FOLEY, Ala. — Foley Police Chief David Wilson has announced that no murders took place in the Forward City in 2013.

“Which marks four consecutive years with no murders,” he said in his annual Foley Police report during Monday’s Foley City Council meeting. “I am very pleased to report something that Foley has not seen in 30 years.”

The police chief also reported a decrease in robberies in the last year.

“And though one rape is too many,” Wilson said, “we only had four with no increase from 2012.”

According to the report, Foley Police Department’s solve rate in several crime categories is higher than the “average solve rate for police departments throughout the state of Alabama in 2012.”

“I take time right now to applaud the men and women of our department,” Wilson told the Council.

“I think it’s astounding the solve rate is so high,” Foley City Councilman Ralph Hellmich said. “Everyone has crime in their town. But when you solve at that high a level, it sends a message.”

However, not all crime was down. Wilson reported that burglaries increased in 2013.

“Some contributers to this continue to involve burglaries being driven by the desire to support drug habits, as well as some felons receiving a release from prison due to overcrowding and the felons returning to their old ways,” the police chief said. “Of our 111 burglaries, we solved 40 percent of them, as compared to the 14-percent average.”

Wilson said efforts are under way to bring the number of burglaries down in 2014.

“We will continue to increase our neighborhood watch and business watch programs with citizen involvement and staying on top of felons returning from jail who do not fly straight,” he said.

But thefts also increased last year.

“We had 112 more thefts in 2013 than we did in 2012,” Wilson said, explaining that most of those involved either shoplifting or items being stolen out of vehicles.

“I think that most police departments in Baldwin County experience a wave of car burglaries in neighborhoods once or twice a year, and we are no different,” he said. “Neighbors calling in suspicious noises and sights are helping us with this problem.”

Therefore, Foley Police handled 19 fewer vehicle thefts last year. That’s down 10 from 29 in 2012, 28 in 2011 and 30 in 2010.

“We had a 58-percent solve rate on vehicle thefts, as compared to the average of 22 percent,” Wilson said.

Foley Police also handled 14 more aggravated-assault cases last year than its predecessor.

“This category does, however, include domestic-violence cases,” Wilson told the Council.

Wilson credited tips from residents and business owners, as well as efforts of the 90 members of the Foley Police Department staff in helping to reduce several areas of crime in 2013.

However, the police chief did highlight two staff members, with the naming of Gail Pettibone as 2013 Public Servant Employee of the Year and Cpl. Glenn Hartenstein as the 2013 Police Officer of the Year. In addition, David Vosloh presented a $1,000 check to Hartenstein for being named the Vosloh Charitable Foundation 2013 Officer of the Year.