Reports of domestic violence also dropped, from 81,454 to 80,681, or 1 percent.
"New Jersey continues to be a safer place in which to live and work and raise a family," Gov. Whitman said at a news conference in East Rutherford, N.J.
In May, the FBI announced similar news nationally, with a preliminary estimate that overall crime had dropped 7 percent in 1999 compared with the previous year.
The state police's crime report is compiled from numbers submitted by nearly 500 police departments as well as other law enforcement agencies.
One of the more dramatic improvements locally came in Willingboro, where violent crime fell 36 percent and nonviolent crime 23 percent. The number of burglaries fell by more than half, from 246 to 119.
"You'd love to say all the programs you put in place worked," said Benjamin Braxton, public-safety director, "but I think what you'd have to do is take everything in totality." He cited the strong economy as a big plus because more people have jobs.
Camden also saw improvement, with the overall crime rate falling 14 percent, although the city remained among the area communities with the highest rates of violent and nonviolent crime. Murders were down from 30 to 24, and rapes from 91 to 59.
Camden County Prosecutor Lee Solomon, who was appointed monitor of the city's Police Department in November 1998, attributed the drop to the efforts of the Police Department and community groups.
Before Solomon's office became involved, the average response time on police calls was 45 minutes, he said, adding that the figure had been cut to three minutes.
James Dobbs, president of the city's Police Advisory and Safety Board, also credited the police.
"I think we have a most visible police force, and I think that has a direct effect on activities going on out there," Dobbs said. His panel brings together members of the community and the Police Department to monitor crime and police activity in the city.
