Crime rates have fallen significantly in Dayton this year, according to the latest city data. The city’s drop in crime lines up with larger national trends showing overall crime rates at historic lows in many cities.

The data show Dayton’s crime rate fell by double digits in many areas:

Violent crimes, including murder, armed robbery and aggravated assault, are down 15 percent for 2017. Property crimes, such as arson, residential burglary and theft are down 18 percent.

Chief of Operations with the Dayton Police Dept., Lt. Colonel Matt Carper, says this is the steepest decline in crime rates the city has seen since 2011.

He says some of that decline stems from community education and outreach efforts, and organizational changes within the department.

“This past year we created a violent offender unit by realigning some resources and putting our investigators and enforcement personnel together to combat these violent crimes, so that has proven to be effective,” he says.

Other categories of crime also fell in 2017. For example, rates of forgery, vandalism and bribery dropped 28 percent for the year.

Nationally, the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law found overall 2017 year-end crime numbers are expected to drop to their lowest rates since 1990.

The preliminary report is based on police data collected from the nation’s 30 largest cities.

In a written statement, Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl called the news encouraging.

"We are hopeful this is a continuation of a longer-term trend of overall crime reduction," he says. "We are deeply grateful for all the assistance from the Dayton community, which helped to create a safer city."

The Brennan Center’s previous report analyzing crime in 2016 is available here, and a report analyzing historical crime trends from 1990 to 2016 is available here.