The second Corona year 2021 with lockdowns, travel and exit restrictions also left its mark on the nationwide crime statistics of the police: almost 411,000 offenses were reported – compared to 2020 a further decrease of 5.3 percent, according to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (VP) announced yesterday.
This is “by far” the lowest value in the past ten years, meaning that the number of criminal offenses has reached a “historic low”, according to the minister. The clear-up rate was 55.3 percent in the previous year, a slight increase compared to the previous year.
The declines in reporting relate to both property and violent crime, but as in previous years, cybercrime has increased.
In Upper Austria, crime fell from 59,832 to 55,665 cases (minus 6.9 percent) from 2020 to 2021, as state police director Andreas Pilsl informed yesterday. “A drastic drop that we have not achieved in the past ten years.” Pilsl is happy about a particularly high clearance rate of 63.4 percent in Upper Austria, which is the second best value behind Tyrol. “That makes me proud and I’m pleased that the willingness to perform is still high.”
The decline is particularly evident in “classic” crime: the number of violent crimes reported fell by almost 5.2 percent from 9032 to 8563, but the clear-up rate also fell from 90 to 88.8 percent compared to 2020.
In more than 62 percent of these cases there was a relationship between the perpetrators and the victims, says Gottfried Mitterlehner, head of the State Criminal Police Office. If weapons are involved in acts of violence, knives or other stabbing weapons are used most frequently: 296 such attacks were counted in the previous year.
Five bank robberies last year
Bank robberies are now a rarity in Upper Austria: only five crimes were counted in 2021. The number of robberies – the majority are “minor” cases among young people – fell from 239 to 221. In 2019, before the pandemic, there were 254. The majority of the robbers are caught: the clear-up rate was almost 67 percent.
House broken into 524 times
There was also a further decline in thefts: around 13,300 reports were counted, compared to 15,800 in the previous year. Mitterlehner informed that more than 21,000 cases were registered here in 2017. The number of reported burglaries in houses and apartments also shows the extent to which the corona restrictions have an effect: 524 cases were recorded statistically, compared to 830 in the previous year 2020 – a drop of 36.9 percent. The number of pickpocketing fell from 840 to 483.
Internet crime, the “problem child” as Mitterlehner calls it, has almost tripled within four years. In 2017, 2182 offenses were recorded by the crime statistics – in the previous year there were already 6352 cases. A significant increase was also recorded here from 2020 (4885 cases) to 2021. The majority of cases involve fraud: goods are ordered under a false name and never paid for, or goods that have been paid for are never delivered. Investment rip-offs and online extortions were also recorded here. The clear-up rate is less than 50 percent, but has increased from 42 percent in 2017 to almost 48 percent now. The number of reports of child pornography has also risen: from 298 to 362. “Here we are repeatedly confronted with very shocking cases,” emphasized Pilsl. The fight against cybercrime is to be intensified. These crimes are the focus of the reform of the criminal police that the ministry is planning. “In the medium term” Minister Karner wants to employ more than 100 officers in the Federal Criminal Police Office. For Pilsl, the deputy head of the reform commission, the route is clear: “The specialists have to go out into the regions to support their colleagues there.”
Also read the lead article “Page 4
Source: Nachrichten
