ONLY ten per cent of Spaniards are worried about crime as figures continue to be among the lowest in Europe.
Spain has half as much crime as Britain and is one of the safest places to live, according to statistics revealed at a police seminar in Santander last week.
With 44 offences per 1000 people, Spain boasts one of the lowest levels of crime in Europe.
This compares with 91 in Britain and an incredible 120 offences per 1000 people in Sweden, the highest in Europe.
Rates are even lower in Portugal, with 34, and Greece has the lowest level of crime with only nine offences in 1000.
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Every time the number of policemen increases criminality increases too. The simple reason is that more police register more crime. I think that the trouble with Spain is the amount of “unseen” crime.
Sweden is a very organized society where every mishap gets noted. It is also a very safe country with very little crime experienced by its population.
Southern Europe isn’t well-known for its low levels of criminality in spite of these official statistics. People do not trust their police enough to report all crime or to be witness in cases against organized crime. Hence no crime reported and nice statistics.
You know what they: You have lies, big lies and statistics.
What Ernesto is saying is absolutely correct. My wife and I fled GREECE because of unbearably HIGH crime rates. We had 5 times of theft (car, home, my wife’s car, my mother in law, my sister). Did I report it to police? Yes. Did police do something about it? NO!!
The day my wife and I decided to move was when two children were kidnapped from our neighborhood in Athens for ransom. This case was not even reported as police after the kidnapping of a shipowner whose wife paid the exorbitant amount of 30 million Euro (!!!!) put a lid on releasing information about them in the fear of bad press about Greece… (you see freedom of speech does not work in Greece)… Luckily the kids were returned home against an amount of 150,000 Euro for which the entire neighborhood had to pitch in….By the way, in Greece only shipowners get the assistance of police. This case was reported but no assistance was given….
So Good Bye Greece. Good luck with your lawlesness…. and your statistics!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ernesto is correct, too few good police and an overwhelmed court system means few convictions. Perhaps you could report on that or is the Olive Press going a bit SurinEnglish?
These figures do not represent the true picture. Most crime in Spain is not reported and denuncias are not made. Spain has the highest number of domestic violence against women in Europe and even when these poor women do what the government advise (use the special phone number to report it) nothing gets done so they get murdered. This aspect of crime in Spain is a national disgrace.
Don’t kid yourselves, even in the “crime-free” rural villages in Andalucia there is plenty of crime. Drugs are rampant and so is the crime that goes with this blight on society.