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Iris Spranger (SPD, M), Senator for Interior Affairs, Digitalization and Sport from Berlin, speaks at the press conference to present the police crime statistics and politically motivated crime 2023 in Berlin.
© Hannes P Albert/dpa
Police statistics only reflect a portion of crimes because many crimes go unreported.
But the statistics can show trends such as more violence.
Berlin - More acts of violence, more burglaries, car thefts and more crimes overall - that is the result of the Berlin police's 2023 crime statistics presented on Wednesday.
Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) spoke of “brutalization” in view of the almost 50,000 statistically registered physical injuries.
She said she was also concerned about the many children and young people among the perpetrators.
At the same time, she emphasized that the city continues to grow, and that crime is increasing as the population and immigration increase.
Crimes:
Overall, the police registered more crimes, the number rose by 3.2 percent to 536,697.
The clearance rate for these crimes was 45.5 percent (2022: 44.9 percent).
Spranger emphasized that in 2002 there were 600,000 crimes in the statistics with only 3.3 million inhabitants, so the situation has improved.
Spranger said that the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) had given three reasons for the increase in crimes and perpetrators across Germany: “increased mobility, economic burden and dynamic migration events”.
Thefts:
Most of the crimes were thefts (226,000).
Noticeably below this is the increase in car thefts to 7,781 cases (+39 percent).
Highly professional gangs from Eastern Europe are responsible and can quickly disappear on the highways, said police chief Barbara Slowik.
The number of break-ins, often by foreign gangs, also rose again to 8,232 cases (+35 percent).
Violent crimes:
Around 48,200 physical injuries were officially recorded by the police last year.
That was 3,829 more cases than in the previous year (+8.9 percent) and the highest number in the past ten years.
What is striking is the high proportion of children, young people and adolescents up to the age of 21 among the suspected perpetrators, said Spranger.
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When it comes to violence, the police identified a total of almost 33,000 suspected perpetrators (plus 9.7 percent).
Almost 20 percent of them were younger than 21 years, including 1,963 children and 2,636 young people.
3,482 crimes were committed with the threat or use of knives, said Spranger.
Of the 4,528 suspects, one in three is under 21 years old.
Acts of violence against police officers:
9,603 police officers were registered as victims of an attack or violent act (+10.1 percent).
These include many attacks during demonstrations and also acts of resistance during checks and arrests, for example when a suspect breaks away.
376 paramedics and firefighters are listed in the statistics as victims of a violent act (+22.5 percent).
Perpetrators and victims:
The police identified 140,620 suspects as suspected perpetrators.
Of these, around 70 percent lived in Berlin.
106,671 victims of crime were recorded (+11.6 percent).
Of these, 18,784 women, men, young people and children were victims of violence in relationships or within the family (+8.8 percent).
It is unclear whether there has actually been more violence or whether the willingness to report such acts to the police is increasing.
Foreigner:
Spranger explicitly addressed the high proportion of foreigners - 42.9 percent of suspected perpetrators (previous year: 40.5 percent) - in violent crimes.
According to statistics, the proportion of foreigners living in Berlin is 23.9 percent.
There are reasons for this increase and high proportion, said Spranger: “Violence is not determined by origin, but is shaped by special circumstances.
Socialization, experiences of violence, fears are just a few of them, as well as a foreign environment, an uncertain future, little money.”
Some of the physical injuries occur in refugee accommodation, where conflicts about origin or religion arise in a small space, said Spranger.
In addition, the number of foreigners in Berlin has continued to rise significantly in recent years and is 17 percent higher than in 2021. It is not surprising that this change also plays a role in the crime statistics.
Politically motivated crimes:
Here, too, there was an increase to 6,420 crimes with a political background.
In 2022 there were around 5,100 crimes and in 2021 almost 6,000. Overall, the statistics of political crimes mainly concern propaganda crimes, damage to property and also acts of violence.
Part of the current increase has to do with the Islamist Hamas terrorist attack on Israel in October.
During the subsequent demonstrations against the Israeli military deployment, there were a number of propaganda offenses by Palestinian groups, some of which were classified as anti-Semitic.
Right-wing extremist acts:
The number rose slightly to 2,294 (2022: 2,181).
About half of them involved displaying unconstitutional signs.
There were also numerous insults and 123 cases of violence such as physical injuries.
Left-wing extremist acts:
The police registered a larger increase to 1,128 (2022: 956) in this area.
About a third are accused of coercion, which could also have something to do with the road blockades by the climate protection group Last Generation.
614 cases were about climate protection.
The number of recorded violent acts by left-wing extremists fell to 117 (2022: 124).
“Foreign Ideology” section:
The largest increase in recent years was recorded here: from 546 to 982 cases.
Israel's war against the Palestinian Hamas in particular may have contributed to the increase.
Violence increased from 82 to 134 cases.
These were often acts during demonstrations, such as resistance to the police.
“Religious Ideology”:
The police also counted more crimes in this area, where there was an increase from 94 to 212.
Often it was about Islamists and banned terrorist organizations, terrorist financing and support.
dpa