That quickly led to a search of crime statistics in Nassau County during her tenure, which I wrote about here.

(There were some side debates about how to read the numbers: include pre-Rice crime figures as a "benchmark" or only look at the years since she took office? Also, what's the significance of higher crimes / arrests being reported? Better policing? Poorer preventative measures?)

Anyway, here's a bit more about crime in Nassau.

From 2008 to 2009, the number of reported crimes in Nassau went up in nearly every major category, according to figures maintained by the state Department of Criminal Justice.

The numbers:

Total crime: up 3.5 percent. (735 more crimes reported)

Violent crime: up 8.1 percent (184 more incidents reported)

Murder: up 7.1 percent (2 more murders committed)

Forcible Rape: up 25.7 percent (19 more incidents reported)

Robbery: up 5.7 percent (64 more incidents reported)

Aggravated Assault: up 9.4 percent (99 more incidents reported)

Property: up 3.0 percent (551 more incidents reported)

Burglary: down 1.8 percent (46 fewer incidents reported)

Larceny: up 3.4 percent (492 more incidents reported)

Motor Vehicle Theft: up 7.3 percent (105 more incidents reported)