Major crimes in 2008 in the city were down compared to 2007, but total crimes were up, according to an annual report released today by the Duluth Police Department.
The city saw a 1 percent increase in total crimes in 2008 from the previous year, and a 4.6 percent increase in total crimes since 2006.
Police Chief Gordon Ramsay blamed most of the increase on better tracking of graffiti, with vandalism reports shooting up nearly 12 percent since 2006.
"We wanted to investigate those to the best of our ability, so we started tracking those," he said.
He also said Duluth crime statistics can be considerably altered by one person committing numerous crimes.
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"One person can have a big impact on those numbers," he said.
Major crimes, such as rape, murder, robbery and assault saw a 2 percent drop, with the decreased number of burglaries, larcenies and auto thefts contributing to the decline. The category of robberies was the only area that saw a significant increase, going up 15 percent.
Ramsay said factors contributing to the overall drop in major crimes ranged from increased prosecution of offenders to community involvement.
"If you look at Lincoln Park, there's been a rise of 10 to 100 in the citizens patrol," he said.
The department also saw a nearly 4 percent drop in calls for service in 2008 compared to 2007.
Ramsay said his staff is compiling 2009 crime data to date, which he hoped to have available sometime next week.
