Atlanta is a little bit safer, statistics show.

According to figures released this week by the Atlanta Police Department, crime dropped 10 percent during the first quarter of the year compared with the same period in 2003. Of the seven major crimes tracked by the FBI and included in the agency's Uniform Crime Report, Atlanta saw major reductions in six of them.

Uniform Crime Statistics are forwarded from the city to the FBI, which issues a major report annually on crime rates in cities and towns.

Officials with the FBI and the GBI declined comment on Atlanta's report.

The number of homicides dropped 28 percent, from 36 during the first quarter last year to 26 during the same period this year; rapes dropped 16 percent, from 62 to 52; robberies declined by 21 percent, from 936 to 740; burglaries were down 20 percent, from 1,935 to 1,549; larcenies dropped 8 percent, from 5,683 to 5,248; and the number of auto thefts dropped 8 percent, from 1,648 to 1,519.

The report showed an increase in one category, aggravated assault, which rose 6 percent --- from 948 during the first three months of 2003 to 1,008 in 2004.

The release of the Atlanta numbers comes days after Chief Richard Pennington disciplined nine officers for failing to submit sex crime reports from 1999 to 2001 for uniform crime reporting purposes. Failing to submit the reports gave the impression that there were fewer sex crimes committed than actually reported.

"The process has been rectified as best we can with our current system and the statistics are as accurate as they can be at this point," Pennington said Thursday.

Pennington said new meetings have helped bring the crime numbers down.

The Command Operations Briefing to Revitalize Atlanta is an intense weekly meeting in which police officials track crime trends and develop strategies to combat crime.

"While I am gratified for the continued downward trend, commanders will still be held accountable for tracking crime trends in the city and reporting their strategies and progress in our weekly COBRA meetings," Pennington said.