By KRWG News
Las Cruces – Violent crime in Las Cruces dropped 11 percent in 2010 from the year before and more were solved than the national average.
The city's 2010 crime statistics report also shows that nonviolent crime such as credit card fraud, bad checks, vandalism and trespassing went down 6 percent. The city's police force solved 23 percent of those reports, well above the nationwide average of 18 percent.
City police solved 68 percent of violent crimes, compared with 47 percent nationally.
Police chief Richard Williams and Mayor Ken Miyagishima (Me-AH-gee-she-ma) both say community involvement has helped the police respond better to crimes. Miyagishima says increased access to cell phones has helped police learn about and respond to crimes quicker.
The crimes drop comes despite police understaffing.
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Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.