Safety · Shirley
Shirley, MA crime & safety
Shirley's reported crime rate is well below Massachusetts's. 16 violent crimes were reported in 2025.
Crime reported to police, trends and how Shirley compares with the towns next door, from FBI data.
Reported crime, 2025
Shirley at a glance
Violent crime
2.3
per 1,000 residents · Massachusetts 3
Property crime
1.6
per 1,000 residents · Massachusetts 10.4
Incidents reported
27
16 violent · 11 property
Since 2022
▼ 36%
change in reported property crime
Violent crime per 1,000
Property crime per 1,000
Trend
Reported crime per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025
ShirleyMassachusetts
Solid lines: property crime · dashed: violent crime.
Show as a table
| Year | Shirley property | Massachusetts property | Shirley violent | Massachusetts violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.5 | 10.9 | 2.1 | 3.3 |
| 2023 | 2.7 | 11.5 | 1.7 | 3.3 |
| 2024 | 2.8 | 11.3 | 1 | 3.2 |
| 2025 | 1.6 | 10.4 | 2.3 | 3 |
What gets reported
2025, by type
Larceny / theft
7
Burglary
1
Vehicle theft
3
Aggravated assault
16
Robbery
0
Rape
0
Homicide
0
Arson
0
Offenses reported to police, not convictions.
Who keeps Shirley safe
Local public safety
👮 Shirley Police DepartmentReports its crime counts to the FBI — the figures on this page.
🚨 EmergenciesCall 911. For non-emergency numbers, alerts and preparedness, see the town guide.
Next door
Shirley and its neighbors
Reported crime per 1,000 residents in each town's latest year. * = a count, for towns under 1,000 people.
| Town | Violent | Property | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shirley | 2.3 | 1.6 | 2025 |
| Groton | 1 | 2.1 | 2025 |
| Ayer | 1.8 | 5.6 | 2025 |
| Harvard | 0.7 | 3 | 2025 |
| Lunenburg | 0.7 | 10.4 | 2025 |
No town figures in the FBI's data: Devens.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can't tell you
- It's reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many thefts and some assaults are never reported.
- Small numbers swing. In a town of about 7,000, a handful of incidents moves the rate noticeably from year to year. The trend matters more than any one year.
- Visitors count too. Towns with a campus, highway, beach or shopping center see incidents involving people who don't live there, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn't report a full year, not that nothing happened.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. This isn't an official statement of public safety — in an emergency, call 911.