Violent crime risesin Germany

3 May 2004

BERLIN – Germany is facing a rising tide of violent crime, official data shows, with Frankfurt emerging as the nation’s most dangerous city.

Drawn up by the Interior Ministry, the figures show crime rising in the nation for the third year in a row with the police reporting about 6.6 million cases in 2003, which represent an increase of one percent over the previous year.

While credit and financial fraud has been on the rise, the data above all show an increase in violent crime, in particular, assault, with the number of cases rising by three per cent last year compared to the previous year.

In particular, Germany’s big cities were hit by the rise in the crime rate with Frankfurt, recording a 12 per cent jump last year compared to 2002, and a resulting replacing Berlin as the nation’s crime capital.

Berlin came in second with the number of criminal offences in the country’s capital sinking by 3.4 percent.

The safest city was Stuttgart with 8535 criminal cases pro 100,000 residents, which compares to 17,159 cases pro 100,000 residents.

Munich came in second from the bottom in the crime rate league table with the number of cases increasing by 1.3 percent. The crime rate edged by 0.8 percent in Hamburg.

However, Berlin had the distinction of recording the highest number of rapes in a decade along with a dramatic leap in the number of child abuse cases. The data showed the number of child abuse cases jumped by 24 percent in 2003.

One of the biggest increases in cases was recorded for use of stolen bank cash cards, which surged by 60 percent last year.

This in particular, was seen as a result of the increased use of internet for purchases.

Duesseldorf and Cologne also recorded a rise in their crime rates. While the number of criminal cases rose by 3.3 percent in Duesseldorf, the rate rose by 3.7 percent in Cologne.