Still, he said, policing local streets can be frustrating when the same criminals escape arrest multiple times.

“I see [the] same names when I came in 30 years ago that are still popping up,” he said.

Around Harvard’s campus, the year in crime had mixed results. Auto theft and vandalism numbers were down from January to September 2004 as compared to the same period in 2003 in Mid-Cambridge, a region bordered by Mass. Ave. to the south, Harvard Yard to the west and north, and Central Square to the east.

Street robbery and drug-related incidents decreased in that area for the third year straight, and auto theft dropped from 27 incidents in 2003 to 23.

In Riverside—the area bounded by Mass. Ave., the Charles River, John F. Kennedy Street, and Central Square—rates of vandalism fell for the third year straight, down from 85 incidents in 2001 to about half that number in 2004, despite a September tire-slashing spree targeting police cars. Housebreaks rose from 28 to 35.

Citywide numbers indicate that indecent assault incidents doubled in 2004. CPD’s statistics analysis cites two sexual assault patterns in Harvard Square during the early months of 2004. The arrest of Geremias Cruz Ramos, a Harvard University custodian, largely put a stop to this spike, according to CPD.

But as warmer weather approaches, crime tends to increase, said Pasquarello.

“There’ll be car doors left open and windows left open, and we’ll start seeing a spike in some crime,” he said.

—Staff writer April H.N. Yee can be reached at aprilyee@fas.harvard.edu.