Violent crime in Surrey in 2016 is down by 16 per cent compared to the previous year, including significant drops in attempted murders, assaults and robberies, according to statistics released by the Surrey RCMP.

"I think it's always encouraging when you see the numbers are going down but there is an ebb and flow," said Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner.

"That's the nature of the business."

Sgt. Alanna Dunlop says using crime analysis data to target repeat offenders is making a difference.

"What's especially significant is when you look at robberies, which had a 37 per cent decrease," she said.

"That can be attributed to a number of factors, including sentences currently being served for a number of cell phone robberies we had in 2015 and a very high clearance rate for bank robberies."

Areas to improve

Surrey's property crime rate didn't change much between 2015 and 2016.

A decrease in residential break-ins last year was offset by an increase in break and enters at businesses.

There was also a spike in theft from vehicles.

"Theft of vehicles declined by five per cent but theft from vehicles rose by 22 per cent in 2016," Dunlop said.

"That's a statistic that we would really like to bring down."

Dunlop says there are plans to do more public education in the coming months to warn people about leaving valuables in their cars.