SPRINGFIELD -- Springfield Police say they're getting a better idea of where to focus their efforts.  They say they have several areas that need extra attention.

  The quarterly crime report, comparing October through December of 2006 with the same months for 2007, shows crime is up significantly in home and business burglaries, property damage and child abuse.  And those crimes are happening all over the city.

  Jeremy Flynn was a robbery victim in 2007.

  "He told us, if anyone tried anything, he was going to shoot up the place and -- we kind of assumed -- and us, too, so we just didn't want to mess with it,” said Flynn.

  In early August, Flynn wound up locked in a cooler in the back of the Kum & Go store where he worked.  A robber tied him up with his own necktie and shoestrings. 

  Flynn was held up not once, but twice.

  "I've been meaning to get into something with a little higher pay; this is as good a reason as any,” he said.

  Springfield police say robberies actually went down by three for the last quarter of 2007 from that of 2006.  In most other cases, the trend is getting worse.

  "It was the company checkbook and really put us in a bind because now we can't pay bills; it’s hard to make payroll; it was a big inconvenience to our company,” said Monty Sowersby.

  Monty Sowersby was one of 505 victims who had their house burglarized in the last three months.  That compared to 361 homes in the same time period last year.  Commercial burglaries are also up -- by 42.

  "It's something that we've had to dedicate more time and resources to try to follow up on those cases,” said Officer Grant Story, a spokesman for the Springfield Police Department.

  Story says knowing the numbers gives the department a roadmap of where to go in 2008.

  "It gives us a watermark or indication to find out where we need to be putting our resources,” he said.

   One area they'd like to beef up is preventing child abuse.  It's up by 28 for the last quarter of ‘07 from that of ‘06.

  "It's one thing for a house to get broken into but a child abuse is something that always leaves an injured person.  Certainly, we have to look at that in the new year,” said Story.

  Police say one thing that they attribute the increases to is the growing population of the city.  They say all the crimes that happen in the areas annexed by Springfield also figure in to the growing statistics.