Did you feel safer in 2007 than in 2006?

Preliminary numbers released today show that in 2007 fewer major crimes occurred statewide and more incidents got solved than a year earlier.

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs issued the data based on information gathered from cities and counties.

According to WASPC calculations, there was an 8.4 percent drop in “crime index offenses” – murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson – compared to 2006 with a clearance rate of those crimes up 13.5 percent.

The total number of violent crimes decreased by 2 percent. This category includes homicides. In 2007, 177 people were murdered in the state, 11 fewer than in 2006.

Property crimes dropped 8.9 percent with car thefts down a whopping 17.9 percent. Specifically, 36,932 vehicle thefts were reported in 2007 versus 44,967 in 2006.

The one increase came in hate crimes. According to WASPC numbers, a total of 199 incidents involving 251 criminal offenses were reported by 260 law enforcement agencies in 2007, a 15.1 percent increase compared to 2006 data.

Here is a link to the totals by cities and counties.