LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The police chief says overall and violent crime rates dropped last year in Lincoln.

Lincoln police data say that although Lincoln’s population rose by 4,000 to more than 284,000 residents, the number of serious crimes fell by 6 percent.

Chief Jeff Bliemeister (BLEYE’-meye-stur) said Thursday that the decline in the overall rate is largely due to a 7 percent drop in thefts. Officers suspect that drop came from a combination of efforts to arrest potential repeat offenders and education campaigns to remind people to lock up their possessions.

Rapes increased by 9 percent in 2018, which police attributed partly to more delayed reports prompted by the #MeToo movement. Robberies and aggravated assaults dropped.