Overall crime is reduced on MBTA

The T was a safer way to get around Greater Boston last year than in the previous two years, according to crime statistics released yesterday by the MBTA Transit Police that showed that some types of serious crime nevertheless rose in 2005.

T police attributed the drop in crime to a new policing strategy launched by Chief Joseph C. Carter in June 2003. The plan did away with a policy of spreading officers across the sprawling transit system run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and assigned them instead to jurisdictions, similar to police precincts in a city.

Captain John Martino, deputy chief in charge of patrol operations, said the policy ensures that commanders and officers are held responsible for crime in their jurisdiction. Under the old system, officers worked in shifts across the MBTA system that left many feeling bored and disconnected from their mission, he said.

Under the new plan, ''there are more officers involved with the community; there's more ownership," Martino said yesterday.

''We wanted to become a more proactive organization," he said. ''Because each group is autonomous, they can focus better. They get to know their beats better. They don't get burned out as quickly."

The crime report, which examines eight types of crime, shows the biggest drops in larceny and attempted larceny, such as snatched purses and stolen wallets. Those crimes fell by 14 percent, from 643 cases reported in 2004 to 552 last year, the MBTA said. The number of stolen cars and arsons also fell.

Overall, the number of serious crimes reported on the transit system dropped slightly from 2004 to last year, but compared with 2003, dropped by 16.5 percent. There were 1,215 crimes in 2003 and 1,014 last year.

The T averages nearly 800,000 one-way trips on buses, subway, commuter rail, ferries, and other services each weekday.

Lieutenant Commander Joseph O'Connor, who heads the T police district covering the subway, buses, and commuter rail from the JFK-UMass station on the Red Line to points south, pointed to smaller changes, such as adding lighting and additional police call boxes around T stops.

''We worked with neighborhood people and the Boston police to address some of the crime issues," he said, ''I think the riding public is certainly better served."

But some commuter advocates questioned whether the MBTA report painted a complete picture of safety on the system, and they pointed to several areas of crime that increased last year.

The biggest jump came in the number of aggravated assaults, which climbed by 30 percent, from 130 in 2004 to 169 last year. Robberies -- which involve physical force, unlike a wallet lifted from a pocket -- also increased, as did burglaries, which involve break-ins, such as a car radio stolen from a T parking lot.

The MBTA said there were also three rapes or attempted rapes reported last year, two more than in 2004 and one fewer than in 2003. There were also two homicides last year, the same as in 2004 and one fewer than in 2003.

Khalida Smalls -- program director for the T Riders Union, an advocacy group -- said she was surprised that crime had dropped last year. Anecdotally, she hears about more violent assaults on the system, she said, and she pointed to what she said was a worrisome increase in confrontations between riders and bus drivers and subway car operators. Some of those fights, if they don't involve physical force, might not appear in the MBTA's crime data, she said.

''We want people to be safe," she said, ''but at the same time I'm very concerned about the tension that is building between riders and drivers."

Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com; Raja Mishra at rmishra@globe.com.