Increases in robberies and aggravated assaults triggered a 9.8 percent spike for violent crime in Honolulu during the first six months of 2006, the first upswing in crime rates on O'ahu since 2003.

According to the FBI's six-statistics covering January to June released yesterday, Honolulu's property crime rate dropped 9.9 percent from the same months in 2005, although motor vehicle thefts and arson continued to rise.

Honolulu Police Department administrators had not reviewed the report and did not want to comment yesterday, department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said.

But Charles Goodwin, special agent in charge of the FBI's Honolulu office, said violent crimes such as murders and robberies are on the rise on the Mainland, and that Honolulu's overall crime rate is still below the national average.

"You really have to be careful not to read too much into it," Goodwin said. "Just looking at Honolulu's statistics, I don't see any huge surprises."

Based on Honolulu's 908,521 population, Goodwin said, the five murders in six months (down from six during the same months in 2005) is far less than in many other cities.

"Robbery is a violent crime, but robberies here are more closely associated with property crime, and most are drug-related," Goodwin added.

Criminologist Paul Perrone, chief of research for the state attorney general's office, said, "You never want to see violent crime rates go up, but historically, Hawai'i has had — and continues to have — one of the lowest rates in the nation."

Unlike drug operations, police cannot do much programming to prevent murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults from happening, Perrone said.

He also said crimes reported by any of Hawai'i's 7 million visitors annually are factored into the crime rate without adjustments to resident population numbers.

The semiannual 2006 numbers reflect 71 more robberies, at 455, and aggravated assaults increased from 716 to 760 cases.

According to Perrone, robbery is anything taken by force; burglaries involve break-ins; and larceny thefts are items stolen without force. The last two are classified as property crimes.

The most significant 2006 numbers in property crime are the 3,110 auto thefts and 278 arsons, up 4.3 and 13 percent, respectively, over 2005.

Nationally, the FBI reported the numbers of murders and robberies in the United States continued to increase during the first half of 2006, fresh evidence that violent crime is on the upswing after more than a decade of decline.

The bureau said violent crime increased 3.7 percent over figures for the first six months of 2005.

The number of robberies increased 9.7 percent, while murders rose 1.4 percent.

Aggravated assaults increased 1.2 percent; forcible rapes declined less than 0.1 percent.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.