NEWS WHEN IT COMES TO THE CRIME PROBLEM IN ALBUQUERQUE. THE GOOD NEWS ... OVERALL, CRIME IS DOWN. BUT THE BAD NEWS ... MURDERS, RAPES, AND ARMED ROBBERIES HAVE GONE UP. ANTOINETTE ANTONIO HAS THE STORY FROM POLICE HEADQUARTERS. THE POLICE CHIEF SAYS HIS OFFICERS ARE MAKING GOOD PROGRESS IN CRACKING DOWN ON CRIME... BUT HE ALSO ACKNOWLEDGES THERE’S STILL A LONG WAY TO GO. ARE THE PEOPLE OF ALBUQUERQUE SAFER? THE ANSWER IS YES .... AND NO. 'I think the numbers speak for themselves.' ALBUQUERQUE POLICE RELEASED CRIMES STATS FOR 2007. OVERALL... CRIME CASES ARE DOWN BY 5-PERCENT. BURGLARIES DROPPED BY 11 PERCENT ... AND AUTO THEFTS BY 9- PERCENT. HOWEVER, RAPES WERE UP SLIGHTLY BY 7-PERCENT. MURDERS... UP 33- PERCENT. AND ARMED ROBBERIES WENT UP 23-PERCENT. THAT'S THE NUMBER THAT CONCERNS POLICE THE MOST. INVESTIGATORS SAY TWO TRAVELING MAGAZINE SALESMEN HAD INTENDED TO ROB TAK AND PUNG YI DECEMBER OF LAST YEAR. THE COUPLE WAS LATER FOUND DEAD IN THEIR HOME. I feel good about some of the trends that I see but at the same time I realize we got a lot more work that we need to do. WORKERS AT THIS TWISTERS IN ALBUQUERQUE AGREE. THE RESTAURANT IS PART OF THE 23 PERCENT INCREASE IN ARMED ROBBERIES. IN THE PAST NINE MONTHS... DIFFERENT TWISTERS LOCATIONS HAVE BEEN ROBBED A TOTAL OF 13 TIMES. hopefully we can get it to stop, it's ridiculous unfortunately, when you see a change in the economy you see other types of crimes start to creep up in numbers. robbery is one of those. THE CHIEF SAYS THERE WAS A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN ROBBERIES IN THE SECOND HALF OF LAST YEAR. COMING UP AT SIX ... THE OWNER OF TWISTERS TELLS US HOW ROBBERIES AT HIS RETAURANTS ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE VIOLENT. THE LATEST THIEF ... PUTTING A GUN TO A WORKERS HEAD. AT PD HQ, AA, EWN4. THE SEARCH IS STILL ON FOR A MAN