The Lafayette Police Department says there was a 5-percent drop in total crimes reported in the city in 2016, based on crime statistics released Monday morning.
Murder fell 20 percent — from 20 in 2015 to 16 last year. There was also a significant drop, down 11 percent, in reported robberies — 167 in '15 compared to 148 last year. Most other major categories of crime showed modest reductions: Assaults fell 3 percent, burglaries 1 percent, thefts and auto thefts 6 and 5 percent, respectively.