Did it seem January was a quiet month for local police activity? If you noticed fewer crime reports from police, it's due to a more than 50 percent drop in several categories of local crime, according to the New Jersey State Police.

A new online system for reporting the month-by-month data collected from local departments by the State Police shows Parsippany crime reported in January 2013 was 51.47 percent less than what was reported in January 2012.

Keep in mind that numbers are relative. Even a small change can make a meaningful statistical difference.

In the categories of murder and robbery, the township's numbers as reported by Parsippany Police are a little ahead of last year's: Parsippany logged one murder in the first month of 2013, compared to zero in January 2012. Robbery too is up slightly. January had two, according to the report. In the first month of 2012, there was only one.

Then the story changes. In assaults, burglaries, and instances of larceny and theft, Parsippany's numbers fell, particularly in the area of burglary: There were 21 in January 2012, but only five in the first month of this year. 

Check out the stats, aka Parsippany By the Numbers:

Not perfect, but clearly an improvement from a year ago.

Will it continue? We'll check February numbers when they become available.