The grisly ritual of the body count is becoming less gruesome.
Fewer homicides are happening in every major Bay Area city.
The murder tally dropped over 30 percent in Oakland, from 131 murders in 2012 to 92 in 2103, with homicide totals dropping in San Francisco and San Jose as well, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Homicides in San Francisco dropped from 69 in 2012 to 48 in 2013, and in San Jose from 46 to 44 in that same time frame, the newspaper reported.
Police credit video surveillance, more aggressive policing, and help from the community -- though crime experts noted that there's no one cause behind the drop.
And no clear explanation.
But citizens will take it, for now.