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GREENSBORO -- Whether it’s teamwork, new patrol schedules, more community outreach, removing offenders from the streets or a combination of each — violent crime has fallen by nearly half citywide since December, according to data released this week.

Greensboro police report that violent crime is down 47 percent from December through February. Property crimes are down too, falling by 26 percent in the same period.

Department officials cite a variety of reasons for the reductions, but all share a common bond: elation that, at least recently, city streets have been safer.

“There has been a lot of hard work and dedication across the board,” said Capt. Janice Rogers, commander of the department’s criminal investigation division. “It’s a combination of the whole department working together.”

For violent crimes — including assault, homicide, rape and robbery — the department dropped from 160 reported cases in December to 85 in February.

The most dramatic decrease came from robberies of individuals, which dropped from 82 in December to 30 in February.

All other violent crimes either decreased or remained steady from month to month over the three-month span, with the exception of aggravated assaults and rapes, which fluctuated.

For property crimes — auto theft, larceny and both residential and nonresidential burglary, the numbers dropped from 1,269 cases in December to 949 in February. Larcenies had the biggest decline, with 821 in December to 630 in February.

One common trend supervisors cite is better communication departmentwide. Officers said they share detailed information between divisions, districts and squads more frequently, enabling them to target crime trends and problematic areas before issues get out of hand.

Last fall, officers teamed up from the southern and western patrol districts, the vice-narcotics division, and traffic and reserve units to tackle crime along High Point Road, an area that has been a problem for some time.

For the High Point Road project, officers set out with a list of short- and long-term efforts to address the causes of crime there, including drug activity, prostitution and trespassing.

They also assigned more officers to patrol and began a campaign with merchants.

Couple that with the closing of the once-notorious Coliseum Inn, and officers said many patrol zones have seen crime rates drop 17 to 28 percent in the corridor from October to January. The initiative also led to 461 arrests in that period.

“It’s been a major thing for us,” said Capt. Chris Walker, who oversees the southern patrol district, which includes part of the corridor. “The High Point Road plan has worked really well and I know the merchants are really happy.”

Walker said he thinks another effective crime-reduction tool has been the recent change from five-day to four-day schedules in February. The schedule is designed with shifts that overlap in the afternoons and evenings, when call volumes tend to peak.

“That made a difference for police being on the scene faster when a call comes in,” Walker said. “That increases the positive impact we’ve had reducing crime.”

Another positive is that many district commanders have worked to increase relations with community watch programs in their areas, giving residents a direct line to police.

“They know exactly who they can call with an issue on Saturday evening and we can address their issues,” Walker said.

Rogers said the department also has focused a lot of effort on targeting repeat offenders, which she estimates account for 90 percent of the city’s overall crime.

“You have a lot of offenders who get out of jail and go back out and do the same thing,” Rogers said. “A lot of those people are serving time. We are also getting out there and reducing the pool for these people to play in.”

Overall, violent crime is down 19 percent this year compared to January and February of 2008. Property crime is down an overall five percent when comparing the two years.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com