faq
Once a year, the figures from the police crime statistics – PKS for short – cause debate. What acts are recorded in it? And why might some conclusions be problematic?
Which crimes are covered by the PKS?
The police crime statistics (PKS) are collected annually nationwide based on the data transmitted by the 16 state criminal investigation offices. The PKS records all crimes processed by the police, both completed ones and those that were merely criminal attempts.
The PKS contains the absolute numbers of all crimes and suspects as well as the relative numbers that provide information about the frequency of crimes in relation to the number of residents or members of certain groups (age groups, gender, nationality). The latter is intended to ensure the comparability of the figures over the years.
The absolute number of crimes also depends on external factors such as the increase or decrease in the total population. In the context of strong immigration, the relative numbers are particularly relevant because more people commit more crimes overall.
The PKS includes in particular information about the type and number of crimes recorded, the crime scene and time of the crime, victims and damage, investigation results, age, gender, nationality and other characteristics of the suspects.
Which Crime Areas missing from the PKS?
The following major groups of crimes are not included in the PKS: state security offenses, administrative offenses, traffic offenses and offenses that are not part of the police’s remit, such as financial and tax offenses.
With regard to traffic offenses, a large proportion of all crimes are already missing. The aim is to avoid the PKS becoming too dependent solely on possible fluctuations in this sector.
For this reason, customs and tax crimes, which are generally not part of the police’s remit and are reported and processed directly by the public prosecutor’s office, are also missing from the PCS. State security crimes are recorded separately – and some are reported in a special report on “Politically Motivated Crime” (PMK).
What period does the PKS cover?
The PKS does not reflect the number of crimes committed in a year, but rather the number of crimes investigated by the police. This means that every year the PKS contains numerous cases that may have occurred the year before or even earlier.
Even a crime that could not be solved because no perpetrator was identified is included in the PCS. However, if in the course of the police investigation it turns out that a suspicion cannot be substantiated, i.e. that there is no crime at all, the report will not be included in the PCS.
Overall, only around 30 percent of all suspects are convicted. However, all of these results are no longer included in the PKS. It cannot therefore be compared with statistics from the judiciary, such as the criminal prosecution statistics from the Federal Statistical Office.
Are all crimes recorded in the statistics?
The PKS deals exclusively with the so-called “bright field”, i.e. with crimes that are reported and processed by the police. It does not cover the “dark field” of secret crimes that were committed without being discovered by or reported to the police.
In some groups of crimes, such as sexual harassment or child abuse, a large number of unreported cases are considered very likely in criminological research, as the victims either do not report crimes at all or only report them years later due to shame or dependency. So-called control crimes, which essentially only find their way into the statistics through police action, can also have a high number of unreported cases. These include drug-related offenses, corruption, fare evasion, shoplifting and cheating on social benefits.
The Frankfurt criminal lawyer and criminologist Tobias Singelnstein said this in NDR-Interview, the aspect of the “dark field” should not be ignored. The fact that there is an increase in crime statistics does not necessarily mean that there are actually more cases. It is also possible that the population’s reporting behavior has changed in a certain area of crime or that the police focus has changed.
The “Lüchow-Dannenberg syndrome”
In 1981, police personnel in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in Lower Saxony were massively increased due to the transport of nuclear waste to Gorleben. When there were no anti-nuclear protests, the additional forces reinforced the normal police routine. As a result, the number of suspects rose dramatically in the 1990s – in sharp contrast to neighboring towns where fewer police were on duty. Crime had not increased, but the number of checks had. This means that the dark field in the region has become much smaller.
What factors play a role in crime?
There are very consistent and reliable indicators of increased crime in criminological research: Firstly, there is a focus on crime in younger age groups. Secondly, around 75 percent of all suspects are male. Thirdly, the social situation of the perpetrators plays a crucial role: the more precarious the social situation, the higher the susceptibility to crime.
Criminologist Singelnstein says: “Whether people commit crimes essentially depends on age, gender and social circumstances, but not on their passport or nationality.”
Behind the group of non-Germans are “very, very different people who have practically nothing to do with each other.” These could be tourists as well as refugees who have been in Germany for a few months. Or people who have lived in Germany for decades. It is more important to take a look at the social situation.
In addition, “people who are not well read,” often including non-Germans, are checked particularly frequently. This could also be reflected in the statistics. Certain crimes can only be committed by foreigners, such as violations of the right of residence and the Asylum Procedure Act as well as unauthorized entry.
The fact that social circumstances are relevant is reflected in the statistics for 2023: the crime rate is particularly high in economically weak regions. In the first half of 2023 it was also higher than in the second half of the year, when inflation had fallen and the economic hardship of many people may have eased somewhat.
The intensity of police controls also has a significant influence on the statistics. A high police presence generally leads to more crimes being discovered and reported. However, this does not provide any information about whether the actual number of crimes has increased – or just those that have become known to the police.
What are critics of the PKS demanding?
There is a lot of criticism of the PKS; experts have been calling for its current form to be abolished for years and have been advocating for fundamental reform.
The Kiel criminologist Martin Thüne speaks of a “problematic data basis”. The PKS is “incomplete, distorted, potentially manipulable and unweighted,” said Thüne to the “Frankfurter Rundschau”. “At least in the public and political debate, the number of foreign suspects is regularly put in relation to the foreign resident population – for example, 40 percent of the suspects with only 15 percent of the total population.” However, many crimes are committed by suspects who do not actually live in Germany – tourists, station personnel or commuters.
Singelnstein also criticizes that the statistics are “massively overinterpreted”. Politicians have the feeling that they have to take a position on the numbers, and this is taken up accordingly in the public debate. This creates a cycle that repeats itself every year.