 According to investigative journalist Wayne Barrett, the rates of most crimes, including all categories of violent crime, made consecutive declines during the last 36 months of Dinkins's four-year term, ending a 30-year upward spiral.A small but significant nationwide drop in crime also preceded Giuliani's election, and continued throughout the 1990s.Two likely contributing factors to this overall decline in crime were federal funding of an additional 7,000 police officers and an improvement in the national economy.