AG hopeful Sen. Eric Schneiderman’s campaign is seeking to debunk a key plank in DA Kathleen Rice’s campaign platform, noting new statistics reveal crime in Nassau County has risen on her watch, in some cases even out-pacing the rest of the state and NYC.

Numbers released over the past 24 hours by DCJS show crime in the county has increased in several categories including total index crime and murder, between 2005 (when Rice was first elected) and 2009 (when she was elected to a second four-year term).

In nine of 10 categories – including murder, rape, burglary and robbery – the stats in NYC and statewide surpass those in Nassau County, although some of the increases are relatively small in raw numbers (there were 28 muders in 2008, for example, compared to 30 in 2009).

Rice has been arguing that she’s a tough-on-crime progressive and insisting that her efforts to reform the legal system at the local level have not only been successful, but would translate into a statewide model if she is elected to the post AG Andrew Cuomo is vacating.

“These new statistics put to rest any doubt: Crime has gone up in Nassau under the current D.A.’s watch, and crime in the county is out-pacing both New York City and the rest of the state, period,” Schneiderman spokesman Eric Koch said.

“These numbers underscore the need for Eric Schneiderman’s innovative ‘smart on crime’ policies that reduce crime – not the old, conservative methods that we now know just don’t work.”

Appearing on NY1 Monday, Rice insisted statistics kept by both Nassau County and the state show “crime has actually been reduced over the time period, adding:

“Overall crime is reduced, has decreased in the time period, and we’ll be able to talk about those numbers and we’ll be able to show that that is in fact exactly what has happened.”

Speaking to me later that same day, Rice dismissed the Schneiderman campaign’s initial attack on her crime reduction record as little more than politics-as-usual.

Here are the stats, helpfully broken down by the Schneiderman campaign:

Index crime: Up 4.08% in Nassau; down 8.33 % in NYS; down 13.25 % in NYC

Violent crime: Down 3.66 % in Nassau; down 12.49 % in NYS; down 15.13 % in NYC

Murder: Up 15.38 % in Nassau; down 11.10% in NYS; down 12.62 % in NYC

Rape: Down 13.89 % in Nassau; down 28.78 % in NYS; down 41.08 % in NYC

Robbery: No change in Nassau; down 19.83 % in NYS; down 24.78 % in NYC

Property crime: Up 5.17 % in Nassau; down 7.45 % in NYS; down 12.62 % in NYC

Burglary: Down 7.92 % in Nassau; Down 7.96 % in NYS; down 19.09 % in NYC

Larceny: Up 12.11 % in Nassau; Down 3.64 % in NYS; Down 6.94 % in NYC

Motor vehicle theft: Down 22.91 % in Nassau; Down 38.76 % in NYS; Down 41.82 % in NYC

UPDATED: Rice spokesman Eric Phillips said crime is down 3% in Nassau County compared to last year at this time, noting it has gone “slightly up and slightly down” over the last few years.

“Everybody realizes that crime stats ebb and flow due to a number of issues: the economy, the age of a population, law enforcement presence, prosecutorial theory, judicial theory, correctional policies, social service involvement, non-profit presence, among many others,” Phillips said. “The DA’s office is certainly a part of that complex equation.”

“State Senator Schneiderman is a career Albany politician who’s never prosecuted a single case. We don’t expect him to understand law enforcement theory, or for him to understand the complex factors that are relevant to a community’s safety.”

“To a career prosecutor who understands the factors and the components involved, State Senator Schneiderman’s attacks have no relevance and offer no ideas on how we can better protect communities in our state. Nassau County is one of the safest counties of its size in the entire nation. Conspicuously, that’s a fact you don’t hear during State Senator Schneiderman’s desperate political attacks.”

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