Murders and rapes in Pittsburgh dipped last year, while other violent crimes such as robberies and aggravated assaults increased, according to crime statistics released Monday by the U.S. Justice Department. Overall, the number of violent crimes nationwide — including Pittsburgh — increased last year by 1.3 percent, according to data the FBI compiled. In 2006, there were 56 homicides in Pittsburgh, compared to 63 the previous year, a decrease of 11.1 percent. So far this year, 27 homicides occurred in the city, said Diane Richard, police department spokeswoman. During the first five months of 2006, 17 people were murdered in Pittsburgh, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. The government did not release crime statistics by county, but in 2006 there were 95 homicides in Allegheny County, compared to 92 in 2005, according to the medical examiner. The number of rapes in the city dropped 14.7 percent, from 117 in 2005 to 102 in 2006. Also down from from the same year were the number of property crimes, 15,628 to 15,236, or 2.5 percent; theft, 10,337 to 9,658, or 6.6 percent; and motor vehicle thefts, 17.9 percent, from 2,273 to 1,865. “Certainly it’s encouraging to see decreases in crimes such as homicide and rapes,” said Pittsburgh police Chief Nathan Harper. “But one homicide is too many as far as I’m concerned. And when you are the victim, or the family member of a victim, statistics don’t really mean anything.” Harper said that although statistics can be useful in trying to spot trends or patterns in crime, his focus continues to be “building bridges in communities” to get residents to work with police to reduce crime. Increases were reported in Pittsburgh in the number of robberies, up from 1,722 in 2006 compared to 1,617 in 2005, or 6.1 percent; aggravated assaults, which went from 1,588 to 1,593, or 0.3 percent; burglaries, 3,713 from 3,018, or 18.7 percent; and arsons, 70 from 55 in 2005, a hike of 21.4 percent. When broken down by region — Northeast, Midwest, South and West — the largest increase in violent crime occurred in the West, where it was up 2.8 percent over the previous year. The Northeast was the only region to experience a drop in violent crimes — down 0.1 percent — between 2005 and 2006.

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