When the number of tourists, convention attendees, business people and those coming into the city for movies, dinner or a sporting event are taken into account, Bedard said it "speaks volumes" to the job the police department is doing.

Police, he said, have worked hard over the past 10 years in being proactive in addressing crime problems and using suppression efforts, such as those on the gang and drug task forces, to keep those crimes in check.

But unless the department continues to get more officers, the amount of violent crime in the city may rise again, Bedard said.

Salt Lake City saw many of its violent crimes categories go up between 1976 and 1986. During that same time period, the number of the officers in the department dropped by 26.

Although crime has been kept in check over the past 10 years in the city, the department only has 23 more officers on its force now than it did in 1996. In 2006 the Salt Lake City Police Department had 417 sworn officers.

Salt Lake City dispatchers received more than 236,000 calls for service in 2006, a 137 percent increase from 1976. A little more than 7 percent of those calls were for violent crimes.

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E-mail: preavy@desnews.com