The number of violent crimes in the District of Columbia increased last year, according to the FBI, contradicting the police department’s claims that violence had fallen substantially in 2008.

The total number of murders, rapes, robberies and assaults in D.C. rose 2.3 percent last year over 2007, according to an annual FBI crime report released Monday. Property crime in the nation’s capital also increased by 4.5 percent, the FBI said.