By Todd Zeranski

June 12 (Bloomberg) -- New York was the safest large U.S. city again last year, according to FBI crime statistics, even as violent crime rose for the first time in five years in the rest of the country.

While violent crime increased nationwide by 2.5 percent, the largest increase since 1991, violent crime in the city fell 1.9 percent, according to the survey of preliminary crime statistics issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington. New York property crimes, such as burglary and car thefts, fell 5.1 percent, beating the national average decline of 1.6 percent.

``We've continued to make America's safest big city even safer,'' Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

Even with reductions in recent years, New York's 36,400- member police force is bigger than the four next-largest U.S. departments combined, and its 1,000-officer counter-terrorism division is larger than that of the FBI.

Mayor Bloomberg in March announced plans to add 800 officers and 400 civilians to the force, the largest increase since 1993. The civilians would handle desk work, freeing more officers for patrol duty, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at the time.

The number of crimes overall dropped 4.3 percent last year in the city, extending a decline that now reaches 18 percent from 2001.

Of the U.S.'s 10 largest cities, New York ranked last with 2,680 crimes committed per 100,000 residents. Dallas is the most dangerous, with 8,496 crimes per 100,000 residents. New York City had approximately 8.1 million residents as of 2003, according to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, while Dallas had about 1.21 million.

The FBI found U.S. cities had an increase in violent crime, though cities with populations of more than 1 million had a 0.4 percent decrease.

Murders increased by 4.8 percent over 2004, according to the FBI. Robbery was up 4.5 percent and aggravated assaults rose 1.9 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Zeranski in New York at tzeranski@bloomberg.net

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