The murder count shrank 18 percent in Los Angeles and major crime fell 8.6 percent in the city in 2009, continuing trends that city officials said Wednesday are proof of the value of a well-staffed police force and smartly targeted law-enforcement efforts.

The 314 homicides in Los Angeles last year were the fewest since 1967, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a press conference, again calling the city the safest it has been in half a century.

In the San Fernando Valley, which accounted for one-third of the city's violent and property crime in 2009, homicide fell 6.9 percent and major crime was down 8.5 percent.

"The Valley is so (big), how the Valley goes, so goes the city," said Commander Jorge Villegas of the LAPD's Valley Bureau.

The figures in the LAPD's annual "Crime Snapshot" showed declines in 2009 in all divisions and virtually all categories, including an 11.2 percent drop in gang-related offenses.

Villaraigosa said among major U.S. cities, only San Diego can boast of a sharper improvement in crime statistics last year.

Although many factors account for changes in crime patterns, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said, he thinks the explanation for Los Angeles' improvement in recent years is simple.

"It's cops. It's effective policing," Beck said.

Beck alluded to his and Villaraigosa's political effort to continue to enlarge the police force despite the city's budget problems.

"This department ... can never be big enough in my lifetime," Beck said. "So we've got to be smart."

Villaraigosa vowed to keep public safety as L.A. government's top priority, saying that with the LAPD's sworn force of 9,963 patrolling 456 square miles, "we're still the most underpoliced big city in the nation."

Beck said increased use of statistical breakdowns has helped the LAPD to focus on problem areas.

Beck called the drop in homicides to 314 in 2009 - down 18 percent from 2008 and 35.8 percent from 2005 - "incredible."

Also impressive, Beck said, was that 83 percent of those homicide cases were solved.

Officials noted that Wednesday's heartening report refutes fears that economic desperation would lead to a rise in crime.

Villaraigosa expressed hope that Los Angeles can lure business, jobs and tourists by trumpeting its improving safety.

Statistical breakdowns showed violent crime down 10.8 percent in 2009, led by a 12.4 percent drop in aggravated assault and including declines of 8.2 percent in rape and 9.3 percent in robbery.

Property crime was down 8 percent, led by a 19.6 percent fall in grand theft auto and including falls of 7.7 percent in burglary, 4.7 percent in theft from vehicles and 2.5 percent in other theft.

Shootings declined 19.9 percent.

In the San Fernando Valley, homicides declined from 72 in 2008 to 67 in 2009. Valley statistics mirrored the large citywide changes in aggravated assault and auto theft.

Officials attributed the good news on auto crime in part to improved anti-theft equipment.

In all, the city reported 116,050 violent and property crimes, of which 38,850 occurred in the Valley.