(The Daily Advertiser) – The Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to 1.4 percent fewer crimes in 2016 compared to 2015, according to statistics released Tuesday.

The Uniform Crime Statistics are compiled and submitted to the FBI annually.

2016 was the second year in a row that there was an overall decline after three years of a steady increase of reported crimes. According to the a press release from LPSO, there was a total of 2,784 reported crimes in 2016, compared to 2,824 in 2015.

Forcible rape and robbery saw the biggest declines, with 11 cases of rape reported in 2016 compared to 30 in 2016, and 31 cases of robbery in 2016 compared to 54 in 2015. However, there was a 66 percent increase of criminal homicides: in 2016, there were 10, and in 2015, there were six. Additionally, there were 10 percent more assaults reported in 2016: 1,097 cases compared to 996 cases in 2016.

Other categories, including burglary, theft/larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson, saw small to moderate declines: burglary was down 7.6 percent, theft/larceny was down 4.1 percent, motor vehicle theft was down 14.8 percent and arson was down 14.3 percent.

Overall, there were 5.7 percent fewer reports of violent crime year over year, with 311 in 2016 and 330 in 2016, the press release says.  Part 1 crimes, which includes all categories studied except for simple assault, declined for the second year in a row by nearly 6 percent.

The Lafayette Police Department, which released its 2016 Uniform Crime Statistics Monday, also indicated a decrease in overall crimes.