Is delinquency in Paris really on the decline? This is what the latest figures suggest that the police headquarters should publish this Saturday and that we were able to consult in preview. The prefecture, in the documents, does not speak of official complaints from victims but of "facts" spanning the second quarter of the year, from April to June 2020. The graphs reveal some significant trends including a decrease in robberies and burglaries in Paris.
Containment played a role
In the first quarter of 2019, there were 32 robberies. For the first quarter of 2020, there were only 16. Burglaries show a decrease of 39.50%. There were “only” 2,737 burglaries in this segment of the year compared to 4,524 last year at the same time.
"We must put these figures in perspective, reframes a senior police officer. The months of confinement and the coronavirus context are a game-changer. There was less activity. The offenders stayed at home. There were fewer break-ins in main residences because people were confined. On the other hand, empty stores and offices were visited a little more. "
The black point that also emerges from this compilation of figures is domestic violence. They are up 0.41%. The first quarter of the year records 1,730 events while the same period last year had 1,723.
These figures are undoubtedly well below reality. Few women push the doors of the police stations. The confinement isolated them even more.
Abused women
In April, Hélène Bidard, deputy (PCF) in charge of gender equality to the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, was moved alongside the police on the ground, the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office, associations, of the Ministry of the Interior. A device of secret apartments to house women victims of domestic violence had been deployed. The elected representative then denounced a 36% increase in domestic violence in a single week in Paris and the inner suburbs!
The police headquarters also highlights a decrease in sexual violence of 32.5%. This is not the opinion of feminists like the collective Osez le Féminisme which, on the contrary, denounces an ascending curve which surpasses the figures for 2019. The Ministry of the Interior then denounced an increase in domestic violence of 12% compared to last year.
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Also because of confinement, deliberate attacks on physical integrity also experienced a real drop with 3,449 fewer incidents (-29.6%) including -1,658 villainous physical violence (-35.1%).