What does high-caliber mean?

According to <a href="http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Criminals_using_increasingly_high_c_1218200... Raw Story</a>

<blockquote>Criminals in the United States are increasingly armed with high-caliber and automatic weapons during robberies and murders, according to a study by the Police Executive Research Forum.

Some 53 percent of police from 166 police forces reported "noticeable increases" in the use of large-caliber handguns including <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9x19mm_Parabellum" title="9x19mm Parabellum" rel="wikipedia">9mm</a> weapons such as the Parabellum or <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.357_Magnum" title=".357 Magnum" rel="wikipedia">357 Magnum</a> and 10mm weapons such as the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_%26_Wesson" title="Smith &amp; Wesson" rel="wikipedia">Smith and Wesson</a>.

An increase in the use of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-automatic_firearm" title="Semi-automatic firearm" rel="wikipedia">semi-automatic weapons</a> with high-capacity magazines capable of firing more than 10 rounds was reported by 38 percent of police, and 37 percent said they had seen an increase in the use of assault weapons.</blockquote>

Let's do a web takedown here. What does "high-caliber" mean? Does it mean a "larger" caliber, or does it mean we are using metric measurement now? Does it mean it has more digits in it, like "3-5-7"?

The first paragraph uses the term "automatic weapons" but the third says "semi-automatic weapons." Which is it?

The second paragraph says "53 percent of police... reported 'noticeable increases'". Does this mean that "half of police polled noticed an increase, and half did not"? Also in that second paragraph, why was Smith and Wesson specifically identified as a 10mm weapon? And when they talked about "large-caliber handguns including 9mm weapons" why didn't they say "... which is the same caliber as the trusty old .38 used by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Fife" title="Barney Fife" rel="wikipedia">Barney Fife</a>"?

The final paragraph looks to me like it says this: "62 percent did not report an increase of use of hi cap mags, and 63 percent did not see an increase in assault weapons." Why didn't they simply state it this way? Because it's good news?

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