Overall crime increased in some parts of Southern California in 2012 but remained down in the city of Los Angeles.

In communities covered by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, homicides were down slightly from 2011. There have been 163 so far this year, compared to 171 for all of 2011.

As of the end of November, property crime was up 4.3% and violent crime 2.9%, leaving overall serious crimes in the sheriff’s territory up about 4%.

Final numbers for the year won’t be available for a few days, but Sheriff Lee Baca said he was pleased with the numbers given the tough economic times.

“It has been an excellent year given all that is going on,” Baca said.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department saw an overall increase of 4% in violent and property crimes in the 12 cities it contracts, as well as in unincorporated Orange County.

Read more at LA Times