More crime, a high proportion of foreign suspects – the police crime statistics have been causing discussions since the weekend. Today it is officially presented. The police commissioner warns of overloading.
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser is presenting the police crime statistics (PKS) today. The first details have been known since the weekend. Last year, almost six million crimes were registered nationwide. This corresponds to an increase of 5.5 percent. Violent crimes have increased particularly sharply. There is also an increase in the number of suspects without a German passport.
In view of the numbers, the new federal police commissioner warned that officers would be overwhelmed. “The PKS shows how challenging the police profession is. The increasing numbers of violent crimes are not just statistics,” said Uli Grötsch (SPD) the magazine “stern”. He suggested more supervision and more modern forms of work.
From the perspective of the police union (GdP), the increasing number of violent and property crimes must have consequences. “The tense security situation and the development of crime show that we must immediately invest in more personnel, more powers and faster digital processes,” said the GdP federal chairman, Jochen Kopelke. “We need more money for prevention, faster prosecution and modern, effective security authorities,” he added, referring in this context to the increased proportion of young suspects.
Expert: Statistics are becoming “massive overinterpreted”
Experts like Tobias Singelnstein, professor of criminal law and criminology, warn against attaching too much importance to the PKS. The statistics only reflect a police assessment; there is no consideration of the judiciary, he said NDR interview. “It could also be that there are more reports, but not more perpetrators.” This leads to the crime statistics being “massively over-interpreted,” said Singelnstein.
Nevertheless, the new statistics had already triggered a debate about migration. The CDU and CSU in particular are calling for stricter measures, such as an upper limit on immigration. “We have a problem – it also has to do with migration,” said Union parliamentary group vice-president Andrea Lindholz ARD morning magazine. “We have to manage migration better, we have to know who is coming to our country.”
Lindholz continued that Germany is reaching its limits with its ability to integrate. Integration and prevention cost “an immense amount of capacity that, realistically speaking, we don’t even have,” she explained. Integration and prevention can be achieved for individuals, but not for the masses. The AfD also speaks of a completely unacceptable failure of the traffic light coalition with regard to the safety of citizens.
Numbers also increased in 2022
Crime increased again nationwide in 2022 after years of decline – by 11.5 percent to around 5.63 million crimes. At that time, however, part of the increase was due to the abolition of the Corona measures. Due to the government restrictions, there were fewer opportunities for crime in 2020 and 2021 – for example because shops were closed and fewer people met.