I was pleased that our violent crime rate was down a little, overall. Our domestic battery, aggravated battery and sexual assaults ... were generally down, but robbery was up fairly significantly.

Our overall crime rate would have changed dramatically, if you take out those additional vehicle burglaries.

Vehicle burglary clearly was the category driving the overall property crime increase.

It poses a dilemma for us because more and more property crimes are occurring. We are making arrests, but people going to the Department of Corrections are not staying very long. Those people are coming back into the community quicker.

Do not leave your portable CD players, your purses or your wallets on the front seats of your cars. That's an open invitation. These burglars are just looking for opportunities.

The amount of crime is determined not only by the rationality and preferences of would-be criminals, but also by the economic and social environment created by public policies, including expenditures on police, punishments for different crimes, and opportunities for employment, schooling, and training programs.