According to the most comprehensive statistics released to the public to date, Hawaii is a safer place to live.

The Department of the Attorney General just released its statewide crime statistics and statewide crime in 2004 was down to record lows, with the exception of one county.

"And in fact, our crime rates today are about one-third below what they were even 10 years ago," explained Paul Perrone, with Hawaii's Research and Statistics Department.

Overall, the crime rate is down, along with property crime. Furthermore, violent crime has decreased, according to the report.

When the statistics are broke down by counties, it's a slightly different picture.

Honolulu's crime rate is down 8.5 percent. Violent crime has fallen almost 4 percent and property crime is at its lowest since 2000.

The Honolulu Police Department attributes the declines to "partnerships with community, prosecutors and public private sectors."

Hawaii County saw its crime rate drop more than 14 percent. The county has the second-lowest murder rate and a record low property crime rate.

Maui County's crime rate dropped slightly in 2004 with the violent crime rate much lower at a 14 percent decline.

While Kauai County saw a crime rate decrease of almost 12 percent, the county's violent crimes were up 9.8 percent.

"Kauai is such a small county that sometimes if you have a few more of a certain type of offense in a given period, the percentages seem to show some dramatic increase when, in fact, we're really talking about a few extra offenses," said Perrone.

Normally, these numbers are released in July or August, but the attorney general's office said it was delayed until almost the last day in December because it didn't get the statistics from the Big Island until late last year.

Other numbers were released in the latest report. There were 33 murders statewide, up from a record low of 22 in 2003.

Females made up 24.2 percent of the murder victims and 14.8 percent of alleged offenders.

The 2,913 crimes included murders, robberies and aggravated assaults statewide. A little more than 10 percent were committed using firearms.

The report also said that $65 million in property value was stolen in 2004.

That's up 9.2 percent from 2003.

Of the total value stolen in 2004, 17.3 percent was recovered.