The crime rate on O'ahu fell for a third straight year last year, a decline that cut across six of seven felony categories, according to the final version of the FBI's 2004 national crime report.

Overall, violent crime dropped 3.79 percent while property crime fell by 8.6 percent, according to the final report, which was released yesterday. Preliminary figures were reported in June.

In all, there were 2,507 violent crimes reported in Honolulu last year, compared with 2,606 in 2003. The 44,121 property crimes reported last year were well below the 48,306 reported in 2003.

Violent crimes include rape, robbery, aggravated assault and homicides, which are classified as murder or manslaughter. Property crimes include burglary, larceny theft and car theft.

The number of murders and arsons were the only categories that increased here, with the number of deliberately set fires climbing from 389 in 2003 to 427 last year, and murders jumping from 15 to 26.

The decrease in property crimes is particularly noteworthy given that Hawai'i led the nation in the rate of thefts in 2002.

The local crime numbers for O'ahu this year reflect a national trend of decreasing violent crime.

Nationally, murders across the U.S. fell for the first time in five years, while rapes increased slightly last year, according to the report.

Overall, the number of violent crimes, which also include aggravated assaults and robberies, fell by 1.2 percent last year. Property crimes — burglaries, larceny/theft and car theft — dropped 1.1 percent in 2004, compared to 2003.

There were 16,137 murders in the United States in 2004, the last full year for which statistics are available. That was about 350 fewer than in 2003, according to the FBI data. The decrease is the first since 1999, although smaller than what the FBI reported in June. Chicago was largely responsible for the drop, recording 150 fewer murders in 2004 than in 2003.

The number of rapes, however, has increased in three of the past four years, according to the FBI data. In all, rapes increased by 0.8 percent to 94,635, or about 750 more than in 2003.

Rapes are up nearly 5 percent since 2000, while murders have increased by 3.5 percent, FBI data show.

At the same time, the rates of all violent crimes, measured as the number of crimes for every 100,000 people, have dropped over that same period. Indeed, the crime rate is at a 30-year low, government data have shown.

Despite the historical trend, the FBI included a "crime clock" in its report that shows a violent crime is committed every 23.1 seconds. A murder occurs roughly every half-hour, according to the clock.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.