Violent crime dropped significantly in Surrey last year and most crimes saw similar decreases.
Year-end statistics released by the Surrey RCMP show violent crime dropped by 16 per cent in 2016 when compared to the year before.
Murders show an increase of 38 per cent, as the number of killings went from eight in 2015 to 11 in 2016.
However, attempted murder dropped from 31 to 21 in those years, for a decline of 32 per cent.
Perhaps more significantly in the violent crime area were robberies, which plummeted 37 per cent from 662 to 416.
Property crime, which had been climbing over parts of last year, flat-lined when compared to the year before.
Theft over $5,000 was down 39 per cent, business break-and-enters dropped by 20 per cent and fraud fell by 16 per cent.
Theft from vehicles was up 22 per cent and residential break-and-enter climbed 15 per cent.
The overall drop in Criminal Code offences was six per cent.
Surrey RCMP Cpl. Scotty Schumann said the numbers are promising. He's particularly reassured by the drop in violent crime.
He said while the number of murders and attempted murders typically shows fluctuations, assaults and robberies are usually the big drivers of the year-end statistics.
"With the robberies, our work here is having a direct impact on that for sure," Schumann told The Leader Tuesday. "We have our robbery unit and their clearance rate with bank robberies is excellent."
Add to that some arrests of prolific offenders who were stealing cellphones and other electronics from people on the street. Those offenders are now behind bars and no longer driving up robbery statistics.
Schumann said that theft from vehicles and residential break-and-enters are largely a Lower Mainland problem.
The Mounties are working to educate the public about theft from vehicles, encouraging them to keep high-value articles out of sight.
In addition, he notes several people leave their car doors unlocked to avoid having to pay the deductible for a broken window.
"The reality is, most of these thefts from vehicles are from unlocked vehicles," Schumann said. "When you take away how easy some people are making it, that might be a good driver in reducing that number."
Residential break-and-enters had seen bigger increases last year, but some significant arrests have kept that number from climbing higher, Schumann noted.
For the past few years, the Surrey RCMP has released quarterly crime statistics.