Police in Windsor can finally exhale and celebrate, after the Ontario border town closed the books on 2010 without having to investigate a single murder.

Windsor has averaged about five homicides a year since 1970, and hasn't gone without a murder since 1963.

Deputy Chief Jerome Brannagan said squad members had their fingers crossed going into New Year's Eve, and were hesitant to talk about it until after the clock struck midnight.

"We approached New Year's Eve with great caution, I can tell you that," Brannagan told CTV's Canada AM on Monday.

Brannagan said going an entire year without a homicide was a very important accomplishment for the city. The border city is a big part of Canada's struggling auto industry and has had one of the country's highest unemployment rates.

"It is no secret that we have been a financially depressed area for some time now, and still have the highest unemployment rate in the country," he said.

Brannagan, a Windsor native, said residents love their community and the recent success of the Ontario Hockey League's Windsor Spitfires has help buoy spirits.

"To be able to close our year in 2010 with no homicides is a tribute to this community," he said.

Windsor has had a total of 27 homicides since 2004, and Brannagan said every one of them has been, or are in the process of being, prosecuted.

"We are really proud of the way we police down here. We are an intelligence-led police agency, which means we are only as good as the information we acquire," he said.

Brannagan said he has talked with police chiefs across the country and they are always exchanging policing methods. He said there are no secrets, adding that street-level enforcement has helped keep more serious crimes in check.

"I've called policing a ‘meat and potatoes business' for many years and it boils down to information, it boils down to people being good and decent and high-valued. And did I mention luck?"

A few hours down Highway 401 in Toronto, Canada's largest city saw its number of homicides decline for the fourth year in a row.

Toronto had 60 homicides last year, according to police statistics, down from 63 murders in 2009. The city reached as high as 86 people killed in 2007.

Thirty-two of the 60 people murdered in Toronto last year were shot to death, while another 16 were fatally stabbed. A dozen people were killed in other ways.