Instances of violent crime and auto theft fell last year in Plymouth Township, while property crime overall has significantly decreased from 2006.

Those are the key takeaways from the FBI Uniform Crime Reports for 2011, released earlier this month. Each year, the FBI compiles crime statistics nationwide, which can then be broken down by state, municipality, or department. The FBI sorts crime into two categories: violent crime, defined as murder, rape, robbery, and assault; and property crime, defined as burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

Plymouth continues to see the majority of its crime in the "property" category, as is the case in most communities. In 2011, Plymouth saw 562 property crimes, to 27 instances of violent crime.

The most common property crime was theft, with 475 instances, which although flat from the year before, has decreased from a mark of 602 thefts in 2006. The same can be said for burglaries, with the 68 reported in 2011 a significant drop from the 94 reported five years earlier.

The 19 reported motor vehicle thefts were also a decrease from the 29 reported in 2010. These numbers have decreased despite flat population growth.

Plymouth also saw a significant drop in the instances of violent crime. In 2011, there were 15 robberies and 4 rapes in the township, falling from 23 and 10, respectively, the year before.

In fact, the only crime figure that increased in either major category from 2010 to 2011 was arsons, rising from one to three incidents.

Despite the positive numbers, the Plymouth Police Department recently asked the township for more officers, with chief Joseph Lawrence telling Plymouth Council that his department is understaffed and "running tired."

The latest FBI employment statistics show that in 2011, there were 13 crimes for each of Plymouth's 43 officers, compared to 6.5 for Whitemarsh's 34 officers, and 8 for Conshohocken's 19.

However, Lawrence also based his presentation on data such as call volume and traffic tickets, which also are higher than surrounding municipalities.

View the tables below to get another look at the data, and check back later this month as we look at crime data for Whitemarsh and Conshohocken.

Violent crime in Plymouth:

Property crime in Plymouth: