The statistics compare the six-month periods of January to June in 2001 and 2002.

Despite a decrease in murder and forcible rape, the overall violent crime numbers rose 5.4 percent in 2002 because of an increase in aggravated assaults and robberies, which rose 8.7 and 5.5 percent, respectively.

Motor-vehicle thefts, meanwhile, continued to drive Hawai'i's property crime numbers up.

Auto theft was up 43.1 percent. The Honolulu Police Department's Career Criminal Unit has been targeting auto thieves for most of this year.

Burglaries rose 15 percent and larceny-thefts 9.1 percent during the same period.

"Anytime you hit double-digit increases, it's significant," said Paul Perrone, chief of research for the state attorney general's Crime Prevention and Justice Assistance Division which compiled the report.

Despite the increase in the first half of 2002, Perrone noted that Hawai'i is coming up from low 1999 crime statistics.