51¶ÌÊÓƵ

Major crimes such as murder, robbery, rape and burglary decreased 2.9 percent between 2013 and last year, to 10,003 offenses, according to the report.

Crimes such as forgery, fraud and vandalism went down even more, to 9,725 offenses, a 5.4 percent drop.

Public Safety Director Tom Casady said that because Lincoln’s population grew by 120,000 people since 1970, it’s more meaningful to look at the city’s crime rate -- the number of crimes per 1,000 residents -- as opposed to raw numbers.

That rate -- 36.6 violent or property crimes per 1,000 residents last year -- is the lowest since at least 1970 and has more than halved since the peak year of 1991, according to a graphic Casady provided on his blog, .

Police Chief Jim Peschong praised officers’ hard work and the department’s focus on smothering small problems before they grow into big ones. But he also credited forces beyond police control.

“It’s nice to be able to take credit when it goes down,� he said in an interview Tuesday. “But there’s a little bit of luck on our part.�

Luck cuts both ways. For example, if someone holds up 12 businesses at gunpoint over two weeks, robbery numbers skyrocket.

“A group can cause havoc with you pretty easily,� Peschong said.

The report wasn’t all good news.

The number of murders ticked up, from five to seven, although investigators solved all of them. The lowest clearance rate for police came on the city’s 1,037 residential burglaries. Police solved just under 9 percent of those cases.

Plus, the number of fatal crashes tripled from five in 2013 to 15 last year.

Four intersections saw the most crashes in 2014: the 14th and Superior streets roundabout (31 crashes); North 27th Street between Old Dairy Road and Fairfield Street (28); 10th and N streets (27); and 27th Street and Nebraska 2 (25).

With a budget of about $45 million, Lincoln police tackle a city that’s home to 269,000 people and spans 93 square miles.