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State Police Report Lowest Crime Rates Ever For Md. In 2010

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- Feeling safer? Maryland State Police report some of the lowest crime rates in history for the year 2010.

Pat Warren reports some of the figures may surprise you.

As a rule, crime stories are bad news, but now state police have a good report.

"What it showed is that Maryland's crime is down to its lowest level since 1975," said State Police Superintendent Marcus Brown. "This is the first time we started tracking this data on a statewide basis."

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report (UCR), total crime in Maryland is down 5.1 percent to the lowest level in history since the UCR started in 1975. Violent crime dropped six percent last year, and property crime was down by 4.9 percent.

Baltimore, Baltimore County, and Prince George's County had some of the sharpest declines in the state.

State Police Superintendent Marcus Brown is a former deputy police commissioner in Baltimore.

"From my viewpoint, and I've seen it from the city, from another law enforcement agency and now from Maryland State Police, only being here two and a half weeks, what I've seen on a statewide basis is a lot of technology improvements, a lot of collaboration," Brown said.

Since 2006 total crime has dropped 12 percent in the state. Violent crime is down 17 percent. Last year, Maryland says homicides dropped 3.2 percent. That's 14 fewer people killed. Aggravated assault was down 5.6 percent in 2010.

Brown says police and other agencies are doing a better job of sharing information.

"I believe all these things have contributed to that reduction here in Maryland," Brown said.

While the 2010 stats are encouraging, the figures are still far from ideal. In 2009, Maryland had the 9th highest violent crime rate in the nation.

It's not yet clear how Maryland stacked up against other states in 2010.

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