Germany sees drop in crime during 1st year of pandemic
Germany saw a drop in reported crime last year, partly due to pandemic restrictions that kept people indoors, although there was a rise in child abuse, domestic violence and cybercrime
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Germany saw a drop in reported crime last year, partly due to pandemic restrictions that kept people indoors, although there was a rise in child abuse, domestic violence and cybercrime.
The country's top security official, Horst Seehofer said Thursday some 5.3 million crimes were reported in Germany in 2020. That's a decrease of 2.3% compared to the previous year — driven by a significant drop in burglaries, robberies and auto thefts — continuing a downward trend since 2016, when the number of reported cases was about 6.3 million.
“The development is decidedly positive,” Seehofer told reporters in Berlin
However, he noted that there was a rise in child abuse, cybercrime, fraud related to coronavirus support measures and in domestic violence. While violent crimes as a whole were down 2.4% compared with 2019, the number of homicides in Germany rose by 3.7% to 2,401 in 2020.
The case clearance rate rose slightly to 58.4%. The clearance rate for murder and manslaughter cases was 94.9%.
Seehofer said that he favors strong police crackdowns against anti-lockdown protesters who openly flout rules at protests, and said he expects Germany's domestic intelligence agency to increase its scrutiny of such groupings.
Security officials have warned that the so-called Querdenker movement opposed to pandemic measures is becoming increasingly radicalized.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.