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The city's 2006 numbers also contrast with a November publication by Morgan Quitno Press, a private publishing company in Lawrence, Kan., that rated Springfield as the most dangerous city in the state.

Flynn, who questioned the ranking at the time, said Springfield saw a 16 percent drop in violent crime between 2005 and 2006, which is better than the seven cities of comparable size in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey, which are considered peer communities.

The two Massachusetts peers, Lowell and Worcester, saw declines of 9 percent and 5 percent.

Boston, with a population of 600,000 or roughly four times that of Springfield, is not included among the peers, but Flynn made a point of comparing the two anyway. Boston's total violent crime rate increased by 11 percent, including 28 percent in the homicide rate.

Flynn also highlighted the 12 percent drop in armed robberies and 19 percent decline in aggravated assaults. The city's homicide rate declined by 17 percent, but that figure is misleading, because the actual numbers, from 18 in 2005 to 15 last year, are relatively small.

Rapes, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts increased between 2 percent and 4 percent, and larcenies remained even. Flynn said the number of armed robberies and assaults involving guns also dropped significantly.

There were 70 fewer robberies involving guns last year, a drop of 26 percent, while there were 37 fewer gun assaults, an 11 percent drop.

The total number of 2,265 violent crimes reported is a seven-year low since 2000, he said.

Violent crimes peaked at 3,470 incidents in 2001 and have been declining each year since, he said.

The department's numbers prior to 2000 are not considered reliable, he said.

Flynn said since taking over the department he has emphasized the collection of reliable crime data to get a clearer picture of what types of crimes are happening and where, and where police resources should be deployed.

He said Springfield's crime statistics in the past may have been inflated, because of a methodology of counting some incidents more than once if multiple offenses took place.

For example, a robbery that ended in homicide would be tallied as two separate crimes - armed robbery and murder.

"Instead of counting spiders, we were counting spider legs," he said.

Flynn said he is going to continue beating the drum that the city is safer than being portrayed so that people will not be afraid to leave their houses or venture downtown.

"There's a subset of people in the community who will reject it and say it's right up there with crop circles," he said.

"This will take time," he said. "People kind of believe what they read in the paper, but they really believe what they see and experience."

Panagore said that tackling crime and problems of dilapidated, abandoned buildings and littered, overgrown lots today will only serve to help Springfield's reputation tomorrow.

"What I say repeatedly is that this stuff takes time. It takes a couple of years," he said. "Over the next couple of years, this steady progress is what we're about."

©2007 The Republican