The city council of Pine Bluffs is considering increasing the number of police in an effort to reduce crime. Before making a final decision, the council asked the chief of police to survey other cities of similar size to determine the relationship between the number of police and the number of crimes reported. The chief gathered the following sample information.

CityPoliceNumber of CrimesCityPoliceNumber of CrimesOxford1517Holgate177Starksville1713Carey1221Danville255Whistler1119Athens277Woodville226

The regression equation is

y

=29.390.96x

y

^

=

29

.

39

-

0

.

96

x

, the sample size is 8, and the standard error of the slope is 0.22. Use the 0.05 significance level. Can we conclude that the slope of the regression line is less than zero?