JERSEY CITY - New Jersey's second largest city was without a police chief for half of 2017, but city officials are touting a dip in violent crime throughout the year.

One of the biggest accomplishments Public Safety Director Jim Shea and Mayor Steve Fulop say the Jersey City Police Department accomplished this year was lowering the number of homicides. To date, 20 people have been murdered in Jersey City in 2017 compared to the 24 killings the year before.

During a meeting at City Hall last week, Shea said the roughly 17 percent decrease in murders was the result of re-strategizing after a violent first six months of the year. There were 12 killings between January and June - one of which was a triple murder. One victim also died in April from injuries he sustained during a robbery the year before.

Shea pointed to the street crimes unit working diligently to address violence in the city's hot spots: Bergen and Lexington Avenues, Wade Street and Warner Avenue, Stevens Avenue and Martin Luther King Driver, Ocean and Lembeck avenues, Rutgers and Chapel avenues, Grant Street and Martin Luther King Drive, and Salem Lafayette Court.

A "finite" group of individuals who are "dedicated" to committing crimes are the ones responsible for the city's violent crimes, Shea said.

"When we succeed in stopping them, they don't take the opportunity to do something productive, they try to figure out how to get around what our strategy is and continue to commit violent crimes against each other because it's mostly intramural, for the lack of a better word, among people who group up in different parts of the city."

But nonfatal shootings remained relatively flat in 2017. This year, 125 people were shot in 103 incidents. In 2016, 134 people were struck by bullets in 106 different shootings. Of the shootings this year, 67 occurred in the first six months. These statistics do not include incidents of gunfire that does not result in an injury or fatality.

Last year, the city provided grossly under-reported numbers of nonfatal shootings to The Jersey Journal in a year-end meeting. In January, city officials said there were 80 shooting incidents in 2016 compared to 69 in 2015.

Fulop and Shea said there has been a roughly 3 percent decrease in assaults and 12 percent fewer robberies. However, burglaries were up 17 percent and auto thefts have risen 9 percent in 2017. Additionally, reported sexual assaults are up 23 percent with 49 reported incidents this year compared to 39 in 2016.

The city has been without a police chief since Phil Zacche's June 1 retirement. Shea said he doesn't feel as though the city has been "hurt" without a chief and the city is being "very careful" with whom is appointed to fill the role. Fulop added the city was given the chance to restructure some of the commanding positions.

"I think in some regards, I think there were some things Chief Zacche was reluctant to do structurally because of some of his long-term relationships that, you know, weren't helpful for us," the mayor said.

About 40 or 50 people applied for the position and the city has narrowed its search down to a handful of candidates. An announcement is expected to be made during the first week of January. Of the questions candidates were asked was how they would have handled the June 4 fiery crash that led to four cops being criminally indicted, including charges of attempted murder.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.