Violent crime rose in Casper last year to its highest level in six years, police statistics show.

The number of murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults in the city all increased in 2007 over the previous year. At the same time, property crime - burglary, larceny and car theft - declined.

The total number of "index crimes" - crimes uniformly tracked by law enforcement agencies for statistical purposes - held relatively stable last year, but has declined by about 13 percent since 1997.

Casper Police Chief Tom Pagel said part of the rise in the violent crime is connected with alcohol and drug abuse.

"Casper is a hard drinking community and people don't make good decisions when they are drunk," he said.

Total violent crimes, classified as rapes, murders, robberies and aggravated assaults, rose to 153 last year from 130 in 2006. That equates to a one-year increase of 17.7 percent.

The majority of the violence, Pagel said, comes from disputes between intoxicated people, rather than criminal acts committed against strangers.

"Much of the violent crime is assaultive behavior between two or more people who have been drinking," he said. "That's the vast majority. It's not an unknown person."

While violent crime rose in 2007, it's at a lower level than the beginning of the decade, which 173 such crimes were reported.

Property crimes, meanwhile, dropped in Casper for the second consecutive year. Burglaries and car thefts actually rose, but the overall number of property crimes declined because larcenies dropped by about 6 percent.

Pagel suggested two reasons for the drop in property crimes. Casper is a small enough town that the arrest of an active group of burglars can impact the city's overall crime rates. The city's pawn shops are now part of a new national program that allows police to keep track of goods that come into the stores.

Countywide trends mirrored those in Casper. Violent crime rose, albeit slightly, while property crimes declined by more than 8 percent, according to statistics compiled by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.

Reach Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@trib.com.

Casper crime by the numbers