Tiffany Gibson / File photo
Metro Police investigate a shooting in October 2009 along Cheyenne Avenue. According to an FBI report released Monday, violent crime dropped in Metro Police jurisdiction last year compared to 2008.
Monday, May 24, 2010 | 9:54 a.m.
Violent crime fell in the Las Vegas Valley in 2009 compared to 2008, according to the FBI's preliminary annual Uniform Crime Report released Monday.
The report found the number of aggravated assaults reported by police increased, but most other categories of crime decreased in 2009.
There were 15,473 violent crimes reported in 2008 by Metro, Henderson and North Las Vegas police. That number dropped to 15,319 in 2009.
In the jurisdiction of Metro Police, which includes nearly 1.4 million people, there were 120 homicides in 2008, which dropped to 111 in 2009. Rapes, robberies, property crimes, burglaries, larcenies and vehicle thefts all declined.
The number of aggravated assaults rose from 7,543 to 7,735.
North Las Vegas saw a 3 percent increase in violent crime -- including a jump from 11 to 17 in the number of murders from 2008 to 2009.
Henderson reported a 21 percent increase in robberies, a 33 percent increase in aggravated assaults, and an 18 percent increase in arson cases. The number of murder cases dropped from five to four.
The FBI report is a snapshot of the number of crimes reported by police agencies around the nation.
Nationwide, it found a 5.5 percent decrease in violent crimes in 2009.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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