While the public relations purpose was obviously to tout the new computerized data analysis system the Seattle Police Department is using to battle criminal hot spots (more on that below), you’ve got to give SPD credit for coming right out and saying it: according to their data, crime is up 13 percent this year over the same period in 2013. SPD officials say Seattle has seen more vehicle thefts, car prowls, pickpockets, homicides, rapes, and aggravated assaults.

Needless to say, it paints an unsettling picture.

Using a system known here in Seattle as SeaStat (nationally, it’s typically known as CompStat), police say they’ll be better able to react to the crime trends they’re seeing. So far, that’s meant roughly 3,400 more crimes this year as compared to last. According to police, larceny and thefts (other than motor vehicles) account for more than two-thirds of the 13-percent crime increase. They also note that “17 homicides have been reported so far this year compared to 14 in the same period last year, up 21 percent,” and “1,502 aggravated assaults, up 183 from last year, a 14 percent increase.”

According to a post on SPD’s “Blotter” blog by the SPD Public Affairs unit, new Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole “started SeaStat as part of her pledge to bring best business practices to the department.” So far, using the data, SPD says it has already been able to better react to crime trends, such as a recent “spike” on Capitol Hill which police have responded to by increasing foot and bike patrols in the area between Broadway and Pike and Cal Anderson Park. As a result, according to police, “several arrests were made.”

Earlier this month, Mayor Ed Murray discussed the SeaStat system with Seattle Weekly. While, at the time, the mayor admitted that the system was in its “primitive stages” in Seattle, and that Chief O’Toole and new Chief Operating Officer Mike Wagers were better versed in it, he still expressed confidence in the improvements it could bring to the city. “It basically puts in a system that tracks where crime is happening and when it’s happening,” Murray explained. “And it’s done on a regular reporting basis in meetings, so that it can be analyzed by the department and by the captains, and a decision can be made about the appropriate enforcement response.”

Because stats without graphs would be silly, here’s a look at two provided by SPD.