Indeed, at several of the quarterly meetingsheld in the past two weeks, crime itself barelymerited a mention.

Even in the Peabody neighborhood, where housebreak-ins rose nearly 77 percent last year, thesubject of the community meeting two weeks ago waswhat residents termed a more pressing concern thancrime: zoning.

When Lt. Robert Ames, who is in charge ofpatrol for the Riverside neighborhood, attended ameeting for residents in the first week of March,he said he had expected to hear complaints about arash of car break-ins.

But instead, the Cantabrigians wanted to talkabout "dog problems in the parks [and] lighting onthe streets," he says.

"The response we're getting from the communityhasn't been great because of the [low] crimerate," he says.

Although total crime rise slightly since 1997,the city is still the safest it has been in thirtyyears, according to recently released crimestatistics.

But several high-density areas of Cambridgehave seen increases in violent crime, includingstreet muggings.

Area Four, a crowded cluster of businesses andhomes to the northeast of Central Square, has beenhit hard by drug crime in the past year, Amessays.

Although the number of arrests for drugoffenses declined 24 percent, "it just seems thatevery time we lock somebody up, another personsteps in and takes their place," Ames says.

"Those people in Area Four might not feel like[community policing] is working for them," hesays. "It's an ongoing process."

On March 18, only six residents attended theWest Cambridge meeting.

The neighborhood, which includes parts of theSquare, an upscale residential area, Mt. Auburnhospital, a large cemetery and parts of FreshPond, saw a spree of residential burglaries whichcaused house break-ins to rise 75 percent lastyear.

Thefts from cars were up sharply as well.

Four officers in three radio cars patrol thearea 24 hours a day.

Still, the enclave of nearly 9,000Cantabrigians remains one of the city's safestareas, according to an analysis of CPD crimestatistics.