The number of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Police Headquarters (PP) Mainz, which extends from Worms to Bad Kreuznach, decreased last year and thus for the fourth year in a row. This emerges from the crime statistics published on Thursday for the Mainz Presidium. According to this, there were 48,628 crimes in the region in 2019, 52,074 crimes in 2018 and 61,080 in 2016. As in 2018, the clearance rate was 64 percent. Around 830,000 people currently live in the service area of the police headquarters.
The sharpest decline was seen in the number of home burglaries. So there were 633 acts in inhabited rooms in 2019. This is the lowest in a five-year comparison. In 2018, the police had taken 1012 offenses in the area of the PP Mainz, in 2015 there were even 1595 cases. Professional burglar gangs from Eastern Europe, in particular, had contributed to an enormous increase in the number of cases nationwide in the years up to 2015. As a result, the police went on the offensive, the number of cases gradually decreased. The authorities also upgraded in the region. In contrast to other regions, the number of cases in the PP Mainz area rose slightly again in 2018. The background was also some larger series. Over the past year, the number of cases has dropped dramatically.
In the fight against the burglars, the existing investigation and deployment concepts were repeatedly screwed up. Investigators from the criminal police were also increasingly involved, and more focus checks were carried out, both mobile and stationary. The proportion of deeds that remained in the trial remained at a similar level in 2019. 38.1 percent of the cases remained in the attempt. In 2018, the test share was also 38 percent.
There was also a slight decrease in the number of cases in the area of so-called cruelty-related offenses, which primarily included bodily harm. There, the number of crimes fell from 8198 in 2018 to 7934 in 2019. The level at which the number of cases is moving has, however, basically remained the same for years, with minor fluctuations up or down. The number of cases in the area of pickpocketing also decreased slightly. From 723 acts in 2018 to 707 cases in 2019. The clearance rate remained at a low level in 2019, at 9.3 percent. One focus in this offense field was on the Mainz city area. There, 54 percent of the acts occurred, which is 382 out of a total of 707.
From the police point of view, this is due to the generally high volume in downtown Mainz, both by pedestrians in pedestrians all year round and on the fringes of various major events. However, falling numbers of cases were recently registered at the events. “But day-to-day business simply does not allow us to focus exclusively on pickpockets in everyday life,” said police spokesman Rinaldo Roberto.
The number of cases in the area of so-called property offenses, which particularly includes fraud, has dropped surprisingly. In recent years, the number of cases involving the internet and telephone fraud has increased enormously. The police continued to focus its investigations in this field last year. At the police headquarters in Mainz, a separate investigation group “Legend Fraud” had been used by the criminal police. Organized gangs are behind the various stitches, from the wrong policemen to grandchildren’s trick and supposed promise of profits to the wrong Microsoft employees. The backers and call centers are located abroad, many of them in Turkey.
The police offensive was effective last year. Nationwide, investigators succeeded in picking up a few gangs along with their delicate structure. However, the decline cannot only be attributed to this. The danger is not averted: the criminals become more professional, more flexible, are constantly creating new scams and adapting them to current events, such as in the Corona crisis. Besides, experts estimate that the number of unreported cases is up to ten times higher than the number of reported offenses.
The fact is, however, that the number of call center fraud cases in the PP Mainz area has decreased from 547 in 2018 to 403 in 2019. The number of false police officers dropped from 306 to 201, and the grandson’s trick from 56 to 54 Fraudsters made alleged promises of profit in 2019 in 102 cases. In 2018 there were 139 deeds. The number of cases for the wrong Microsoft or generally IT support staff remained at 46.
The case numbers for 2019 in the area of homicides were at a similar level as in the previous year. In 2019, there were twelve crimes against life, i.e. killing or murder. In 2018 there were 11 cases. “The total number of crimes against life is still at a very low level in a ten-year comparison,” said police spokesman Rinaldo Roberto. Seven of the 12 cases involved attempted killing or attempted murder. Four of the twelve cases mentioned are related to violence in close social relationships. All deeds could be solved. For comparison: in 2015 there were 25 crimes against life, in 2009 39 crimes.
A very noticeable increase can be observed in sex offenses. According to statistics, there were 718 criminal offenses against sexual self-determination in the PP Mainz area in 2019, compared to 602 in 2018. This corresponds to an increase of 19 percent. The number of cases has been increasing for three years. From the police perspective, the increase is due to several factors.
Firstly, due to changes in the legal situation in 2016, when sexual harassment was first included in the criminal code. Previously, for example, fraud only fulfilled the offense of sexual insult. There are also more procedures related to the distribution of pornographic material on the Internet, particularly in the area of child pornography. In 2017, the United States made an obligation for providers to report suspicious material to a special agency, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). This office reports cases that may have their origin in Germany to the BKA, which forwards the proceedings to the locally responsible investigative authorities. Last year 37 of these processes were processed at the PP Mainz. Investigators expect a further increase for 2020.
