Halifax Regional Police say the latest stats on crime in HRM suggest a plethora of anti-crime initiatives are working.

The second-quarter statistics show the overall crime rate fell by 10 per cent in HRM compared to the same time in 2011. But what the force is most pleased about is that violent crime dropped by 20 per cent.

“It appears that our crime reduction strategy and the additional steps we’ve taken with regard to addressing violence in our community may be paying some dividends,” said Cst. Brian Palmeter. “We have to be cautiously optimistic. We still have another five months left in the year, so we have to wait to see what the year end brings in order to compare the two.”

So far this year, overall crime is down by seven per cent, and violent crime has plummeted by 15 per cent compared to last year.

Palmeter tells News 95.7 no one on the force is cheering because of the declining figures – if anything, the statistics are motivation for local police to push crimefighting efforts even further.

“We’ve still got work to do,” says Halifax Regional Police Cst. Brian Palmeter. “We still have to keep working on the violence because that’s the most problematic and the most concerning to our residents. But, certainly we are optimistically pleased with these numbers so far and we just hope it continues.”

During the first two quarters of 2012, there were eight homicides, compared to 12 in the first half of 2011.

A report released by Statistics Canada in July showed overall crime was down 11 per cent in Halifax last year compared to 2010. That included a 12 per cent drop in violent crime.