Honolulu finished at or near the bottom of the 20 largest U.S. cities in terms of the number of reported incidents of violent and property crime in 2006, according to statistics released yesterday by the FBI.

Honolulu ranked 20th in the nation in the number of violent crimes and 16th in property crime, according to the FBI. New York City reported the most crimes of any city in the United States last year, according to the report.

A nearly 9 percent drop in Honolulu crime overall last year was offset by a 5.9 percent increase in murders, robberies, assaults and other violent crime, however. The violent crime spike was the greatest percentage increase in Honolulu since 2001.

A total of 40,943 crimes were reported in Honolulu in 2006 compared with 44,953 in 2005.

Property crime accounted for 38,221 offenses last year, down from 42,383 the previous year, a drop of 9.8 percent.

There were 2,722 violent crimes in Honolulu last year, compared with 2,570 in 2005.

Carnegie-Mellon University criminologist Alfred Blumstein said Honolulu's high level of property crime is not uncommon for a city its size. Its low level of violent crime also makes it extremely safe, he said.

He said in his view, Hawai'i's large Asian population is one reason violent crime is so low.

"Japan has a historically low violent crime rate which translates to Honolulu more so than large eastern (U.S.) cities. Ethnicity and socioeconomic status are very powerful drivers of the crime rate" said Blumstein. "It (Honolulu) is a delightful place."

Honolulu is the nation's 11th- largest city. "The statistics show we're still the safest major city in the U.S., and we want to thank the community, our partners in law enforcement and our employees for their dedication and effort," said Honolulu police Capt. Frank T. Fujii. "We're very pleased with Honolulu's violent crime ranking, and we're continuing to work on property crimes."

Nationally, violent crime increased 1.3 percent in 2006 — the second straight annual increase.

Honolulu's violent crime increase was driven by a 12 percent increase in robberies and a 3.3 percent increase in assaults.

Murders were up by two cases, to 17, and the number of sexual assaults decreased.

"The rise in violent crime is concerning, but we continue to work with county, state and other federal law enforcement officials to monitor and improve the situation," said Janet L. Kamerman, special agent in charge of the FBI's Honolulu division.

"The increase aside, looking at cities on the Mainland of comparable size, Honolulu is still very safe, with property crime representing the overwhelming majority of the crime on O'ahu."

However, U.S. attorney Ed Kubo said he is concerned by the increase in violent crime and that efforts should be focused on putting repeat offenders behind bars.

He credited a seven-year effort dedicated to dismantling the crystal methamphetamine trade in Hawai'i with driving down property crimes.

"In the early 2000s, Hawai'i was considered the ice-using capital of the nation, and at the same time ranked first in the nation as to property crimes — which was directly linked to the horrendous ice epidemic we had. Since that time, we have been aggressively cutting off major drug importation avenues, more persons are now in drug treatment, and there has been an all-out effort on drug awareness and prevention.

"I know that we still have a drug problem, but not as concerning as it was seven years ago. The fact that we have been steadily dropping in our overall property crime rates from first to 20th ... confirms that we are making inroads," Kubo said.

But, he said: "I am very concerned about the uptick in violent crime in Hawai'i. Although the present rate is by no means near what the rate was in the early 2000s, we must continue our all-out effort to put these criminals behind bars because many ... are repeat offenders."

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.