Police were embarking on a new prevention strategy which targeted the main areas of crime - family crime, organised crime, roading, alcohol and youth, she said.
Theft and related offences constituted the highest number of offences recorded, at 913.
Next was unlawful entry with intent to burgle, and break and enter (665 offences), followed by property damage and environmental pollution (653).
Overall, 1870 crimes were resolved last year.
Although there was less crime, the resolution rate dropped to 47 per cent from 51.51 per cent.
"They may be unresolved but they may be the less serious offences," Ms Watson said.
Police had been focusing on resolving more serious offences.
Though there was less crime overall, the crime rate in Wairarapa was the highest in the Wellington district at 979.1 crimes recorded per 10,000.
The next highest were Hutt Valley with 801.8 and Wellington with 791.
Ms Watson said the local figure might be a good sign: "The trust and confidence in the Wairarapa police is high and that may mean people feel they can report their crimes to us."
Wellington District Commander Superintendent Mike Rusbatch said the overall reduction in crime was pleasing.
"Police across the district are committed to ensuring that all residents can be safe and feel safe. We want to be able to stop crime before it happens," he said.
"For some crime categories, we are seeing the lowest number of offences in over 15 years, which shows that if we keep working together we can drive down crime."
