YES, Singapore's still a safe place to live and work in, at least according to latest police figures.

The overall crime rate fell last year to just 695 cases per 100,000 population - the third-lowest in 10 years.

This is a marked 6.3 per cent drop from 2006, said the police when it unveiled its annual crime statistics on Monday.

That's a total of 32,545 reported cases, compared to 33,263 in year 2006.

Housebreaking and related crimes, for example, fell from 1,201 cases to 925.

Housebreaking alone registered only 865 cases, the lowest in the last 20 years.

Problem areas - phone scams, elderly victims, metal thefts, statutory rape

Commercial crimes, however, saw a spike of 330 cases.

Last year saw 3,489 cases of commercial crimes, compared to 3,159 the previous year - a 10 per cent increase.

Of these, 378 were phone scams - practically unheard of in 2006 - with victims losing a total of $4.6 million last year.

Unsuspecting victims were cheated from $200 to as much as $350,000 each.

The police is working with remittance and financial institutions to help alert their customers.

Another worrying uptrend was metal theft - which increased by 204 cases to 1,291.

Police are also concerned about thefts against the elderly, as the number of victims rose from 170 to 241 last year.

But the number of overall theft cases fell by 779 to 19,522 cases last year.

Another problem - the number of statutory rape cases, involving girls under 14 years, has gone up to 57, compared to 38 the year before.

Also, a there has been a slight rise in other crimes. Violent property crimes registered 1,025 cases, up 2.1 per cent.

And other crimes like mischief and vandalism rose to 3,500, only a 0.1-per-cent difference from 3,495 previously.

So although Singapore may be enjoying one of its lowest crime rates in a decade, the police is urging the public not to let down their guard and to continue to remain vigilant against crime.