By Gal Tziperman Lotan, News Staff

The number of crimes reported in Boston dropped 7.3 percent from Jan. 1 to Dec. 6 2009, compared with the same time period in 2008, according to data released by the Boston Police Department (BPD). In District D-4, which includes Northeastern, crime dropped 6.6 percent.
‘[Commissioner Ed Davis] has been very focused on community policing,’ BPD Officer Eddy Chrispin said. ‘He has always said that fighting crime has more to it than just the police department.’
Crime dropped in all categories except rape and attempted rape, in which the number of reported cases rose from 205 in 2008 to 253 in 2009. The biggest rise was in area B-2, Roxbury and Mission Hill, where the number of reported rapes rose from 32 to 56.
The overall number of reported crimes has dropped every year since Davis became commissioner in December 2006, Chrispin said.
‘I think at this point we’ve made some substantial strides, our numbers have gone down every year since [Davis] has been in office,’ Chrsipin said. ‘We will continue to engage members of the community, encourage community policing and get officers to buy into it.’
The number of homicides decreased from 59 to 46, according to the BPD data. Six of the murders were in district D-4, up two from the previous year. There were 63 murders in all of 2008, 10 fewer than in 2005, before Davis took office.
Burglaries and attempted burglaries fell 12 percent from 3,171 to 2,769. Aggravated assaults fell from 3,744 to 3,388 ‘- 9.5 percent.
Chrispin said Davis has pushed for more walking beats for officers, as well as meetings in which community members can voice their concerns.
In an interview with channel Fox 25 in November, Davis said he is pleased with the recent drop.
‘We’ve deployed officers into those locations that, for 30 years, have been a problem,’ he said. ‘It makes a difference ‘- it prevents crime.’