In June, we got our first look at 2009 crime statistics for Capitol Hill and what we saw wasn’t great news — the Hill’s crime totals for the first four months of the year, according to the Seattle Police Department data, were outpacing the rest of the East Precinct and the city.

May’s SPD data has been dumped and, hey, good news — Capitol Hill’s growing crime trend has slowed.

To the right are May’s totals. We’re still seeing a lot of theft but the increase compared to 2008 has slowed. There was also a serious crime in one of the beats that patrols Capitol Hill — we’re checking with SPD about the rape that happened in Beat C2 sometime in May.

Here’s a look at the trends by Capitol Hill’s East Precinct beats. You can see that sectors E1 — Broadway and I-5 Shores — and E2 — Pike/Pine and sections of First Hill and the CD — have fallen back to totals closer to their 2008 trends.

In the table below, you can see the updated percent change for the year’s Capitol Hill totals compared to 2008 for the same period. Theft is the big driver in all of these numbers — up a whopping 43% compared to last year with Broadway and I-5 Shores leading the thievery pack.

This second table shows the comparison to 2008 in terms of total number of crimes, not percent change like above. 221 more rip-offs so far in 2009. If you are curious to know what shape these crimes take, we broke down a sample of thefts earlier this week.Here’s what SPD has to say about the data and citywide trends on their Crime Statistics page:

SNAPSHOT ANALYSIS: Major Crimes are up through the first five months of 2009 by 8% overall, when compared to the same time period in 2008.  Increases have occurred in all crime categories except homicide, rape and vehicle theft.  The increases in robbery, burglary and larceny continue a trend seen in the latter half of 2008.  The increase in aggravated assaults reverses a downward trend from the last two years.  The table below depicts reported Major Crimes by month in 2009 and compares the year-to-date totals with the same period in 2008.

ADDRESSING CRIME TRENDS: The Department will be assisted in its efforts to address these crime trends by the new officers that have been added to the force already and are now completing their training. By the beginning of summer 2009, an additional 45-50 officers will be deployed.  In addition, the Department will be hiring 80 more officers during 2009.

[Find out more about SPD staffing and Neighborhood Policing] 

Other steps being taken by the Department include adopting a task force approach to targeted crimes and crime areas and active participation in the Seattle Youth Violent Prevention Initiative taking place in the Central Area, Southeast and Southwest Seattle.  More specific response efforts are profiled on the precinct level pages.