Crime rates in the neighborhoods surrounding Harvard's campus rose in 1998, but not enough to signify a trend, according to the Cambridge Police Department (CPD)'s annual crime report.

Statistics in the report, released last week, showed that Cambridge's total crime rate increased less than 1 percent last year. Violent crime rose 6 percent, partly because of an increase in nonstranger rapes and in strong-armed robbery.

But the level of crime was still around the lowest it has been in thirty years, the statistics show, and the perennial problem of car thefts declined 18 percent.

"None of the statistics, however, mitigate the fact that in 1998, there was a reversal of a positive trend," wrote CPD Commissioner Ronnie L. Watson in his introduction to the report. Cambridge last saw a rise in crime in 1992.

Police said the most disturbing glaries and 18 percent rise in robberies, they said.

But CPD Spokesperson Frank Pasquarello said that the numbers can be deceptive.

"It looks like there's a crime pattern, but overall crime is down in Cambridge," he said, discussing long-term crime trends.

Stranger rape declined nearly 90 percent, from eight reported incidents to only one. But non-stranger rape jumped 60 percent, from 15 to 24 occurrences.

Overall, the CPD reported a 4 percent increase in rape.

The 25 reported incidents are still well below the city's 30-year average, which is 33 rapes per year.

CPD statistics show that an arrest was made in 92 percent of all rapes reported.

The massive increase in reported robberies centered primarily around three Cambridge neighborhoods: Area 4 near Central Square, Riverside (which includes some of Harvard's river houses) and Cambridgeport.

Police classified almost half of street robberies as "predatory," or involving threats to hurt the victim.

In the Harvard Square area, the statistics show commercial robberies increased slightly from 1997 to 1998.

However, there has been a large increase in the number of smash-and-grab burglaries-which aren't accounted for in the statistics-in the first two months of 1999.

Five of the city's nine clothing store break-ins occurred in the Square.

Robbery increased 25 percent in the area around Harvard's river houses.

Rates in Mid-Cambridge, which encompasses the Yard, Mt. Auburn Street, the Law and Divinity schools and part of the Square, did not change.

In areas around the Quad, in the city's Peabody neighborhood, street crime decreased by a quarter, and the robbery rate declined slightly.

Mid-Cambridge saw a dramatic 96 percent rise in theft, and neighborhoods around the Quad saw a 45 percent increase. Bicycle theft was again the most common crime reported by Harvard students.

The CPD also reported a double digit rise in thefts from cars, with two concentrated areas in the Square and around the Quad.

"Anytime we see an increase in an area such as Harvard Square and Central Square, we always increase our presence,' Pasquarello said.

In Harvard Square, Pasquarello said to expect more of what the department calls "park and walks," where officers leave their cruisers and patrol on foot.

He also said undercover officers were being placed in restaurants to combat a growing number of petty thefts.

Crime Analysis

Like many crowded cities, Cambridge-which has one of the highest population densities in the country-can experience large fluctuations in year-to-year crime statistics without it being part of a trend, said criminologists consulted by the CPD.

This year, crime rates in packed neighborhoods like Mid-Cambridge and North Cambridge had high rates of residential burglaries.

The report also cites a crime prevention tenet-that regions of the city with smaller numbers of "at-risk" residents like college students and teenagers usually experience fewer crimes.

This year's crimes reflected that view, with these types of neighborhoods in Cambridge--West Cambridge, Cambridge Highlandsand Strawberry Hill--all seeing relatively fewcrimes.

The report also cites the confusing streetlayout in the city as contributing to the numberof auto thefts; criminals can exit the city vianumerous bridges to Boston or hurry intoSomerville or Arlington after stealing cars.

The report did not see any significantcorrelation in crime rates among areas with highnumbers of divorced and single-parent families.

"The Department has set as one of its goals todevelop and prioritize new patrol andinvestigative strategies to address the crimes ofstreet robbery, residential burglary("housebreaks"), commercial burglary, andlarcenies from motor vehicles," Watson wrote inhis commentary on the report. The commissioner wasnot available for comment yesterday.

Pasquarello said the crime statistics did notrepresent a trend. But he said that the highernumbers for certain types of crime were cause forconcern.

"We're trying to take whatever proactive[actions] we can to lessen that," he said