According to St. Joseph Police Chief Chris Connally, there were some encouraging results regarding decreases in certain crime numbers over the past year.

Connally said in December, auto theft numbers for the month were the lowest in the last 12 months.

“It’s good news if we can keep that trend going down,” Connally said. “I know when it comes to auto thefts, we’re still seeing some of the similar patterns. The first two weeks there were, I believe, about 10 auto thefts and of those 10, about five of them, the keys were in the car with the car running, about four of them were taken from a family member or acquaintance. So we’re still seeing a lot falling into that category.”

Aggravated assaults were up with 47 percent being domestic related and two-thirds of the total assaults being domestic related. Connally said thefts from vehicles increased significantly and homicide numbers increased.

“That was one of our highest years. Some of those were domestic related, some of them are not,” Connally said. “Those are probably the most difficult thing from a prevention standpoint. That’s also concerning. But anytime you talk about numbers, there’s a corresponding victim with those numbers, so I don’t want anything we say to be taken lightly.”

Connally said for the third straight year, burglaries are down. Reported rapes were down and robberies and shoplifting were down slightly.

A full analysis of the year will be completed soon.