Police Superintendent Kenneth E. Lavallee said he wanted to see a drop in crime during his first year as head of the Lowell Police Department.
According to the latest Lowell police numbers, he got his wish.
New data released this month show that overall crime numbers in Lowell dropped slightly in 2007. Last year, Lowell saw 4,199 reported crimes, down from 4,272 in 2006.
Total violent crimes - which include homicide, rape, and aggravated assault - fell 4.2 percent in 2007, while overall property crimes saw a 1 percent decline. There were 880 violent crimes last year, compared with 920 the year before. The number of property crimes dropped to 3,319 from 3,352.
"We are definitely making progress, but we still have a lot of work to do," Lavallee said after speaking to a City Council subcommittee on public safety recently. "I'm pleased, but I'm not completely satisfied" with the numbers from his first full year as police superintendent.
Lavallee took over the department after former superintendent Ed Davis, his friend and mentor, left in December 2006 to become Boston's police commissioner. Lavallee was immediately tapped as interim superintendent by City Manager Bernie Lynch from 10 candidates within the department. He became the city's permanent superintendent in November after Lynch reorganized the position.
Like other police chiefs in the area, Lavallee has had to deal with declining funding for the department. That has affected staffing, he said; Lowell has 2.3 officers per 1,000 residents, according to department numbers, whereas the average for New England cities with populations of 100,000 residents or more is 2.8 per 1,000.
To deal with declining resources, Lavallee has teamed up with other agencies, such as the Middlesex County Sheriff's Department and the FBI, to help in areas like gang violence and outstanding warrants. Lavallee credits those partnerships and the department's aggressive community policing for reducing crime.
"He's done a good job at using that outside help," said Mayor Edward C. Caulfield. "It's made a difference."
But the latest numbers were not all positive. The data show that the city saw a spike in both burglaries and robberies. Burglaries shot up to 953 in 2007 from 753 the year before, a nearly 27 percent jump. Meanwhile, robberies went up to 242 from 216, a 12 percent increase.
Lavallee said it's hard to pin down reasons for the rise in both categories but said some were committed by the same people who were eventually caught. For example, David McKenny was arrested in July for a string of burglaries in the city. McKenny admitted to 23 burglaries and was recently sentenced to two to three years in prison.
"We had a string of some high-profile cases that we believe contributed" to the rise, said Lavallee.
In addition, the spike in robberies gave clues to areas that police still need to tackle, Lavallee said. Investigations showed that a high number of robberies committed throughout the city were closely related to drugs.
The latest numbers provided to the public safety subcommittee also compared crime activity this January to January 2006. The early statistics show that overall crime has decreased by about 8 percent comparing those two months.
Crime in January was down in every category except homicides - there were three last month, compared with none in January 2006 - and burglaries. Information on motor vehicle thefts were not available.
As before, the hotspots for robbery and drug activities in January were downtown and surrounding neighborhoods like the Lower Highlands, according to the Police Department's analysis.
Lavallee told city councilors he hopes to hire 12 officers after the new police academy begins in May. But he said it usually takes a year before those cadets are ready to enter the force.
He also said the department is looking into a management study to determine whether residents are receiving efficient services and whether there are areas the department can improve.
Russell Contreras can be reached at rcontreras@globe.com.
