No homicides so far in 2025, Worcester Police report; 16 recorded in 2024
WORCESTER — As the city begins the second week of June, Worcester can boast something that it couldn't this time last year: no homicides so far this year.
This time last year, Worcester had seven homicides, six of which were from firearms, Chief Paul Saucier said.
'These things happen in cycles,' Saucier said. 'Could they erupt right now? Yeah. But we have things in place so when it does erupt to go after it.'
Worcester's first homicide in 2024 was in February, a month that had two homicides, which was followed by two homicides in March and three homicides in April. There were no homicides in the city in May and June 2024.
In August, a mother and daughter were stabbed to death.
While September had no homicides, October saw two homicides in the city, followed by three in November and ending with two in December.
According to the FBI's online Crime Data Explorer, the 16 homicides in 2024 are the most reported by Worcester since 1986, the earliest year the data is shown. Police records and Telegram & Gazette coverage confirm these findings.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, June 6, the city hasn't had a single homicide.
In 2025, there has been seven nonfatal shootings with eight victims and 27 nonfatal stabbings in the city so far this year.
'We're able with this unit to go out there and investigate every single shot fired, including every single ShotSpotter incident. And then these guys are able to get there. They can gather evidence on the scene. They can gather video. And they have the time to put this all together, where in the past detectives were so busy,' Saucier said. 'If nobody was hit and there was no property crime, you really wouldn't see much more investigation into it. So by working this group and that's all they do, they can concentrate on those dangerous offenders and take them off the street.
'You have to have a lot of different methods in order to combat gun violence,' Saucier added. 'Between programs and suppression, everything has to combine and then you do have to be lucky as well, because you could have one person out there who could be a crime spree themselves.'
Although no one can know why there have been no homicides in the city this year so far, Saucier said he thinks several Worcester Police Department outreach programs have contributed to the drop.
'We always have a somewhat lower homicide rate than comparable cities and I believe a lot of it has to do with the programs that we do conduct,' Saucier said. 'We started a new program this year. It's called the Worcester Police Scholar Engagement Program and that's within the Worcester Public Schools, where we were in 32 schools, spoke to 2,000 students.'
Saucier said the program explores the difference between a gang and a group, myths about gang membership, and the consequences of drug involvement and social media.
'What we try to do is we go into every health class in the city, sixth grade,' Saucier said. 'We figure that is the age where we need to pay the most attention to the students, because once you get into junior high, it can go either way.'
Saucier said the Worcester Police Department wants to have a positive impact in the school. Since resource officers are no longer in the schools, Saucier said the Worcester police still want to create that relationship and the understanding where children trust in police, knowing when they have a problem, the police will come to them.
In addition, the Worcester Police offers PAAL League Basketball for 14-week spring and fall programs, as well as the Worcester Police and Clergy Youth Mentoring, and Arts and Music Police Partnership programs.
The Police Department's Summer Impact program, aimed at deterring violence during the warmer months, began Memorial Day weekend.
'We're going to increase that and keep it going, hopefully, until September, October this year because, when school starts, violence erupts again,' Saucier said.
Then, there is the Worcester Police Department's enforcement and suppression.
Saucier said his department works extensively with Ronald B. Waddell, executive director and co-founder of Legendary Legacies. Waddell is a certified gang specialist through the National Gang Crime and Research Center and a certified youth mental health specialist.
Calling programs including Legendary Legacies 'violence interrupters,' Saucier stressed the importance of having people who can communicate and relate with 'kids in the street.'
The Worcester Police Department also launched its Crime Gun Intelligence Unit in April 2024, which works closely with the State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
'Departmentwise, so far this year we have confiscated 43 crime guns. Sixteen of those came from the Crime Gun Intelligence Unit. And the big thing is they were able to trace 209 crime guns,' Saucier said. 'One gun could be responsible for nine shootings. So it's very important. Those 43 guns we got, how many lives were saved by confiscating those crime guns.'
Having police visible and involved in community engagement program is also a huge deterrent to violent crime, Saucier said.
'Every day, during their shift, they need to get out of the cruiser, walk around for 30 minutes, talk to people, but they're being seen,' Saucier said. 'You're creating that human-to-human contact instead of just a cop driving by in a car. That's a huge thing for us and I think it works.'
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: No homicides so far in 2025, Worcester Police report; 16 in 2024
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