Holyoke officials celebrate no-murder milestone

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) - It is something that hasn’t happened in 25 years; the City of Holyoke went an entire calendar year without recording a single murder.

Mayor Alex Morse and Police Chief James Neiswanger held a news conference at City Hall on Thursday morning, in which they credited an increase in police patrols and new tactics for keeping people in the city safe.

"We've expanded our bike patrol and foot patrols, we've opened new community policing substations in different neighborhoods, we've launched a new K-9 unit in the city and our narcotics division, we've launched what we call a 'mobile community policing unit,'" Morse said.

The last homicide in Holyoke was in November of 2011; a year that saw a total of four killings in the Paper City.

Holyoke was not the only city to see a decline in murders in 2012. Nearby Springfield saw the number of murders drop from 19 in 2011 to 12 in 2012; marking the lowest level in a decade.

Like in Holyoke, Springfield officials credit new policing efforts such as the North End Initiative and the Forest Park BADGE Unit with bringing down the crime levels there.