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Serious crime in Pittsburgh last year bucked the national trend and posted a slight decline while numbers for cities of similar size went up, according to city police statistics released Monday.

The overall decline of 0.2 percent came despite a nearly 50 percent increase in homicides during 2001. Overall, the number of serious crimes — homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — dropped by more than 9 percent last year from 2000, numbers show. Serious property crimes — burglaries, thefts and motor vehicle thefts — rose by 1.5 percent.

There were 19,881 reports of serious crimes in the city. In the past 30 years, only 1996 had fewer with 18,765. Meanwhile, reports of serious crime in Allegheny County dropped by 5 percent in 2001, from 19,343 reported incidents in 2000 to 18,472 reported incidents, according to state police. Homicides rose from 22 in 2000 to 28 in 2001, or about 27 percent.

Police Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr. released the statistics the same day the FBI announced that serious crime rose 2 percent nationwide and by almost 4 percent in cities with populations between 250,000 and 499,000. Pittsburgh has 334,563 residents, according to the 2000 census.

"The FBI statistics are pretty alarming considering that crime rates have been coming down for so long," McNeilly said. "I'm happy to announce that in Pittsburgh that still continues to be the case."

Mayoral spokesman Craig Kwiecinski said the 2001 numbers place Pittsburgh among the top 10 safest cities in the country.

"We look forward to continuing the partnership with the community to ensure that Pittsburgh remains one of the safest," he said.

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Crime report (109K) Statistics on Pittsburgh and Allegheny County crime. You will need the Adobe Acrobat reader to view this file. Download the free reader here.

Serious crimes, referred to as Part I crimes by the FBI, are used to compare crime among cities. Less-serious crimes, called Part II crimes, jumped by more than 11 percent last year, McNeilly said. They include drug and weapons violations, fraud and prostitution. McNeilly said those numbers do not show a true crime trend because they reflect arrests rather than reports of crimes.

"A increase in Part II crimes usually shows that police are taking initiative in making arrests," McNeilly said. "You can ignore prostitution as a problem and not make any arrests and the number will come down. But we're making more arrests for vice crimes, so the numbers have gone up."

Becky Rodgers, director of Neighbors in the Strip, a Strip District community group, said she saw the increase in less serious crimes as a positive development. The group has been working on improving public safety in the business district.

"It means people are paying attention and police are doing their job," she said.

McNeilly credited community support and partnerships among law enforcement agencies for reducing some crime levels.

Several community leaders said yesterday they have seen crime in their neighborhoods decrease as more residents cooperate with police.

"We're another set of eyes and ears for them," said Andy Dlinn, 49, a Squirrel Hill resident who heads up the citizen's patrol in his area. "As more people have taken ownership for the place we live, we've seen a lot of crimes like thefts and shootings and even the graffiti just go away."

Numbers show that burglaries rose by 2.9 percent last year and thefts were up 2.2 percent.

McNeilly said that almost a third of least year's 55 killings were linked to illegal drug sales and almost half were in retaliation for previous crimes.

"There has been reluctance in the community to come forward to police with information," he said. "But I think we're seeing more help now, and that helps prevent crime because if we can make quick arrests, we can head-off future retaliations."

Arrests for weapons violations rose from 243 to 459.

Motor vehicle thefts, which had skyrocketed in previous years, fell by 2.7 percent last year but rose 5.9 percent nationally and was up 11.1 percent in similar cities.

Thefts, especially reports of "smash and grab" crimes where thieves steal belongings from cars, rose last year, McNeilly said.

Police this month began placing warning notices on cars in which an officer can see valuables in plain view. The notices look like tickets but state "This is not a parking citation!" and are being distributed in the Hill District and East End.

"If we can see valuables in your car, then so can someone interested in taking them," McNeilly said.

Overall serious crime in Pittsburgh has declined since 1989 when the number hit 33,407 reported offenses, city statistics show.

Census figures show the city's population dropped from 369,879 in 1990 to 334,563 in 2000.

McNeilly said that the population drop could explain some of the decrease.

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