1. Criminality
Overall criminality | 49 338 | (+2,0%) |
Criminality on 10 thousands inhabitants | 418 | |
Clarified crimes | 21 334 | (+9,0%) |
Clarification in % | 43,2% | (+2,8%) |
The Volume of Criminality in Districts
the highest number of crimes | Teplice Liberec |
7 101 5 905 |
the highest number of crimes /10 thousands inhabitants | Teplice Česká Lípa | 553 514 |
the lowest number of crimes | Louny Jablonec n. Nisou | 2 808 3 540 |
the highest increase of crimes | Česká Lípa Most | +20,0% (the second highest in the CR) +12,2% |
the greatest decrease of crimes | Děčín Ústí nad Labem | -8,5% -5,4% |
Clarification of the criminality in Districts
the highest clarification | Česká Lípa Děčín |
50,3% 49,9% |
the lowest clarification | Teplice Liberec | 33,7% 35,9% |
the highest increase of clarification | Ústí nad Labem Česká Lípa | +7,1%(the second highest in the CR) +3,6% |
the greatest decrease of clarification | Louny Jablonec nad Nisou | +0,5% +1,3% |
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The development of the security situation in the Northern Bohemia in 1997 followed the development of the previous years. Compared with 1996 it could be characterized by the slight increase of disclosed crimes about 2% (the second lowest number in the Czech Republic), then by the higher number of clarified crimes about 9,0% and the higher level of the clarification, which was 43,2%. There were 49.338 crimes disclosed in total, which is compared to other regions fourth place, i.e. the average criminality in the Czech Republic. As far as the conversion on 10 thousands inhabitants is concerned (418 crimes) the Northern Bohemia in on the third place in the Czech Republic.
The criminality decreased in more than a half of districts in the region, the most distinguishly in districts of Děčín (-8,5%) and Ústí nad Labem (-5,4%). The highest increase of detected crimes was noticed in districts of Česká Lípa (+20,0%) and Most (+12,2%). The rank districts with the highest criminality has not changed: Teplice (7.101 crimes), Liberec (5.905) and Česká Lípa (5.405 crimes). The most dangerous districts after the conversion of crimes on 10 thousands inhabitants still remain districts of Teplice (533 crimes) and Česká Lípa (514 crimes). The highest clarification is in the district of Česká Lípa (50,3%) and Děčín (49,9%).
11 cities in the Northern Bohemia were included in the complex co-ordination programme of the criminality prevention on the local level (Bílina, Česká Lípa, Děčín, Chomutov, Jirkov, Liberec, Litoměřice, Most, Teplice, Ústí nad Labem and Žatec).
The overall disclosed damages reached the amount of 2,153.124.000,- CZK (+16,5%), after the previous one year decline they grew close to damages discovered in 1995. The economic criminality represented 57,9% of the overall damages. The share of secured damages on the overall damages is 1,2%.
Offences
Policemen of the Northern Bohemia solved more than 205.000 offences in 1997, from that number the Public Order Police solved more than 115.000 offences - by the form of documents, offences disclosed in the public order area and settled by the block penalties represented more than 77% and financially exceeded 30 mil. CZK. Policemen of the Traffic Police settled 90.038 offences by the block penalties in the amount higner than 32,5 mil. CZK. Foreigners participated in traffic offences by 13,8%. More than 177.000 offences were settled by the block penalties in the region, financial recourse exceeded the amount of 62 mil. Further 17.328 offences were solved by the Alien and Border Police on the border crossing points during securing of the over border traffic, moře than 53% of these delicts were solved by the block penalties in the amount over 3,5 mil. CTK.
The Administration of the Northern Bohemia indicates the problematic solution of offences in the moral sphere (problems of the prostitution), which are characteristic for some districts (Chomutov, Děčín and Teplice), from the uncollectibility of the financial means point of view. Local authorities meet the same problems. The procedure determined by the legislation, resp. the possibility of imposing the alternative punishment is missing.
Criminality Offenders
In 1997 there were 18.236 offenders (+4,3%) recorded in total, their numbers substantially increased in the districts of Litoměřice (+15,4%) and Ústí nad Labem (+14,7%). Habitual offenders committed 41,7% (+1,0%), foreigners 5,7% (-0,9%) from the clarified crimes.
The greatest share on the clarified crimes had nationals of Slovakia 3,0% (mainly of the property character), Ukraine 0,5% (with the dominating share of the violent criminality), Vietnam and Macedonia both 0,4% (mainly of the economic criminality).
The trend of decreasing number of offenders under the age of 20 years was confirmed as well as the increasing number of offenders from the older age categories. Districts indicated the development of the newly created risk group - unemployed people. The level of unemployment in the Northern Bohemia reaches the highest numbers in the Czech Republic - approximately 8% (even higher is in the districts of Most, Chomutov and Louny). The number of pursued offenders in the productive age (e.g. persons at the age between 30 and 40 represented 20%, i.e. +2,5%) increased in the screened period. The specifications of unemployment consequences on the criminality committment would require to make the serious analysis in the co-operation with specialists in sociology.
2. Security Risks
2a) Risks with the international element, which are directly connected with the stability of the political system
Legal and Illegal Migration
The legal migration in the region was characteristic with the increased pressure on the state borders. Numbers of people (+15,1%) and cars (+16,5%) checked-in on border crossing points increased. There were in total more than 5,8 mil. persons and more than 2 mil. cars. The number of foreigners permanently (+19,4%) as well as temporarily (+5,3%) settled in the region increased.
The illegal migration was considerably expressed by the illegal crossings of state borders. The increased pressure on the state border is well proved by numbers of persons detained on the state borders - 8.429 persons (+8,0%) as well as the higher numbers of persons (+20,4%), who were returned back by the German state authorities in the frame of the readmission (the highest number since 1994 was recorded). The Alien and Border Police detained 120 smugglers and disclosed 11 groups in this connection. This criminality is more and more organised. The illegal migration reflected and was disclosed mostly in the field of the illicit employment of aliens, in the prostitution, in connection with the transfer of stolen cars, drugs. The mentioned facts co-create the social climate in the Northern Bohemia with the negative effects on the security situation.
The Admiistration of the Northern Bohemia accepted a lot of measures. One of them is e.g. establishment of 20 police cells, which were placed in the District Directorate in Ústí nad Labem. This measure contributed in making the process of the detention of prosecuted foreigners of a better quality. The number of imposed prohibitions of stay increased 2,5 times in the administration proceedings and 106 aliens were administratively expelled (+92,7%). Tasks ensuring the building of 6 new border crossing points, which should be opened until 2000, were continuously fulfilled following the realization of governmental resolutions (from 1993 till 1995).
Organised Crime
The recorded organised criminality was connected mainly with the property criminality committment, with car thefts. Organised groups were detected in the districts of Teplice, Liberec, Jablonec nad Nisou and Děčín. The special working team has continued in the fulfilment of their tasks in the district of Liberec and Jablonec nad Nisou, it has clarified 15 cases until now. For example the organised group of offenders exporting motor vehicles to countries of the former Soviet Union was dislosed, which covered its criminal activity by the fraudulent announcements of car thefts, the damage was 10 mil CZK.
In the sphere of the violent criminality two cases of racketeering were disclosed in co-operation with the Organised Crime Unit in the district of Litoměřice. Some cases of murders were solved together as well (in the district of Česká Lípa there were 3 cases, of 7 detected murders, connected with the organised crime).
In the field of the non-alcoholic addiction the further increase of the number of disclosed crimes (+43,5%) in comparison with 1996 occured. The highest concentration of addicts on drugs were detected in the district of Ústí nad Labem. The negative phenomenon is the decreasing age of offenders and the connection with the property criminality. The documentation of the criminality by the form of operation working out proved its worth among the accepted measures, the accessible forms of the prevention were realized (the co-operation with schools, health centers etc.).
The organised crime can be noticed in the sphere of the prostitution, especially in the districts of Teplice, Chomutov and Děčín. It is managed mainly by foreigners, criminal offences committment - of the moral, violent and property criminality and the breaking of the public order is the accompanying phenomenon. Activities of organised groups are connected with the noticeable brutality. The substantial decline of the street prostitution and in the mean time also the movement of prostitutes to various "clubs" were the result of other measures implementation. The action "ÚDER" ("STROKE") from October 1997 could be assessed positively as the Bulgarian gang operating in the districts of Teplice (E-55) and Chomutov (the way from Chomutov to Hora Sv. Šebestiána) was destroyed. The criminal activity of the collusion and procuring was proved among others, the criminal prosecution was initiated against 7 persons, the prohibition of stay in the territory of the Czech Republic was imposed to 10 persons and 3 persons were expelled.
Racist Conflicts
Manifestations of extremist movements in the region occurred mainly in connection with the Skinheads movement, with the breaking of the public order (the sympathy to fascism, anti-Romany spirits). 18 crimes (-51,4%) were disclosed in total, 37 offenders were pursued, 94,6% of them were skinheads. There was the minimum of violent assaults (4 crimes). The most of these crimes were solved in the district of Most (7 crimes), the districts of Děčín, Liberec, Litoměřice and Louny were without any problems. In the course of the year there were 11 various meetings, 8 concerts and some other further activities of these groups recorded. According to the policemen of the Administration of the Northern Bohemia estimation there are approximately 800 suppoerters of Skinheads movement (District Directorates of Česká Lípa, Jablonec nad Nisou and Liberec indicate the possibility of inception of new branches "kinder-skin" and "baby-skin", which could be find among pupils of the basic schools, anarchists represent the smaller community - about 190 supporters and then there is an incongruous group of 50 members "hooligans" (the District Directorate of Teplice).
The situation was regularly analysed, measures were accepted and an aquintance of the state administration authorities and local authorities with all information was ensured.
2b) Risks directly affecting the level of citizens consciousness of the protection of their freedoms and property
Criminality of Young People
The criminality of young people slightly decreased in comparison with 1996. Its share 19,0% on the all clarified crimes (-3,8%) is still high, as far as the property criminality is concerned it reached even 1/3. Young people committed the most crimes in the districts of Most, Ústí nad Labem, Litoměřice and Děčín. The youth participated in the criminality by 12,9% (-3,2%) and the children 7,6% (-0,6%). From offenders standpoint the number of investigated children slightly increased (+2,7%) and the number of prosecuted young people decreased more remarkably (-7,3%).
The share of youth is high at burglaries 37,8% (+2,3%), the share of children is almost 12% and youth 24%, the share on burglaries into flats is 32,2% (+4,5%) and recreation facilities 30,5% (+5,5%). The share of young people at simple thefts reached 33,2% (-5,1%), it was high at car thefts 32,5% (-4,5%) and mainly at thefts of objects from cars 45,8% (-4,7%). The increase in the violent criminality was undesirable, especially in robberies, where the share of children (+5,1%) increased as well as the share of youth (+4,1%).
A lot of problems was caused by escapes of inmates from the educational institutes, which were often connected with the criminality committment (in 1997 the investigation for 357 persons was announced).
In the sphere of measures the stress was given on preventive activities, co-operation with schools, state administration authorities, health centers etc. The Administration of the Northern Bohemia positively assesses the admission of the District Directorate of Ústí nad Labem, which settled the repeated offences of underages according to §217 of the Penal Code by the prosecution of responsible persons (7 crimes).
Property Criminality
The share of the property criminality on the overall criminality is traditionally high. The highest level reached in 1992 (84,2%) and in the course of following years it gradually decreased on 73,5% in 1997. The number of disclosed crimes decreased (-3,3%) as well as the number of clarified crimes (-3,6%). The clarification remains stable, on the line of the republic average of 26,4%. The increase of crimes was registered in the districts of Most (+9,8%), Česká Lípa (+8,7%) and Litoměřice (+4,9%).
The decline of burglaries (-7,4%) is positive, it is almost in all categories including burglaries into week-end houses (-15,1%). The number of simple thefts slightly decreased (-1,6%) as well. The number of cases of bike thefts (-7,9%) and pocket thefts (-28,9%) declined. The number of thefts of objects from cars, however decreased of 5,6%, was still high. The considerably high increase was noticed at car thefts (+11,3%). As far as other kinds of the criminality are concerned, frauds increased of 7,6%.
The Administration of the Northern Bohemia has paid the permanent attention to the property criminality. Providing the duty performance of a substantially better quality is limited by the problems of an unsufficient professional preparation of policemen, not full occupation of working places at operation units, economic problems etc.
Violent Criminality
The violent criminality is permanently in the limelight of the public interest, especially in connection with the most serious crimes (robberies, murders). 3.019 violent crimes (+4,7%) were disclosed in total with almost 35% participation of habitual offenders, One third of them was represented by the cases of breaking the house freedom. The share of robberies was high (19,1%), one half of them was discovered in the districts of Teplice, Most and Chomutov. The increase of murders about 17 cases was very unfavourable, 40 murders were disclosed in total, 36 cases were clarified, the share of offenders-foreigners on clarified cases was 19,4%. The districts of Teplice, Liberec and Česká Lípa, where no case was recorded in 1996 and 7 cases in 1997, had the most cases of murders and together with that also the highest increases.
Economic Criminality
The period of 1997 was characteristic with the reamrkable increase of the number of economic crimes (40,4%, i.e. 1.102 crimes), the highest increase was noticed in the district of Česká Lípa (2,5 times), the only decline occurred in the district of Děčín (-8,2%). Frauds (+33,9%) and embezzlements (+35,1%) participated most remarkably in the increase of the overall economic criminality. The number of crimes concerning breaking of duties in the custody of someone else s property and tax evasion increased as well. Frauds in the sphere of the social insurance and health insurance made the dynamic development (there were 3 crimes in 1996 and 203 crimes in 1997). The forgery of our and also foreign currencies has remained to be the overlasting problem, 266 crimes were disclosed (10,8%), only 1,9% of them were clarified.
Accepted measures on the level of regions and districts were determined mainly on the detection of the criminality in the area of the private business in the commercial activity (tax evasion, illicit deductions of tax on value), the exploitation of state subsidies, parents contributions etc. The combat economic criminality is limited in the certain extent by possibilities of the Police of the Czech Republic. As the result of predominating share of the so called criminal announcement solutions, which the police has to verify, a very small space remains for the quality operation work as the Administration of the Northern Bohemia indicates. Cases investigated by the officers of the Criminal Police represent only 20%.
Security of Road Traffic
In 1997 the decrease of traffic accidents almost of 4% was noticed, 21.156 accidents were recorded in total. Almost 50% of them were caused by the wrong way of driving. The numbers of killed persons increased (+13) as well as heavily injured persons (+39). Damages caused by traffic accidents decreased about 8,5 mil. CZK.
The management of the Administration of the Northern Bohemia accepted complex measures in order to influence the traffic security situation. The limitation of the speed in villages in the course of 4. quarter of 1997 is positively assessed.
1996 | 1997 | Change in % +/- | |
Disclosed crimes in total | 48 380 | 49 338 | 2,0 |
Clarified crimes i. e. in % | 19 567 40,4 | 21 334 43,2 |
9,0 - |
Disclosed damages in total (in thousands CZK) | 1 847 542 | 2 153 124 | 16,5 |
Secured damages | 61 802 | 25 946 | -58,0 |
Common criminality | 42 437 | 41 871 | -1,3 |
Clarified crimes i. e. in % | 14 202 33,5 |
14 464 34,5 | 1,8 - |
Violent criminality | 2 884 | 3 019 | 4,7 |
Clarified crimes i. e. in % from that: Robberies Murders Intentional health harm | 2 369 82,1 560 23 1 007 |
2 501 82,8 577 40 1 021 |
5,6 - 3,0 73,9 1,4 |
Moral criminality | 315 | 305 | -3,2 |
Clarified crimes i. e. in % from that: Violation | 293 93,0 95 | 265 86,9 100 | -9,6 - 5,3 |
Property criminality | 37 509 | 36 274 | -3,3 |
Clarified crimes i. e. in % | 9 915 26,4 |
9 557 26,3 | -3,6 - |
Burglaries | 13 995 | 12 965 | -7,4 |
Clarified crimes i. e. in % from that: in flats in week-end houses | 3 830 27,4 2 392 2 730 |
3 311 25,5 2 404 2 318 |
-13,6 - 0,5 -15,1 |
Simple thefts | 21 732 | 21 391 | -1,6 |
Clarified crimes i. e. in % from that: motor vehicles objects from cars bicycles pocket thefts Frauds | 5 231 24,1 4 551 7 496 2 673 874 432 | 5 343 25,0 5 067 7 087 2 461 621 465 | 2,1 - 11,3 -5,5 -7,9 -28,9 7,6 |
Economic criminality | 2 726 | 3 828 | 40,4 |
Clarified crimes i. e. in % from that: frauds embezzlement | 2 407 88,3 1 310 465 |
3 503 91,5 1 754 628 |
45,5 - 33,9 35,1 |
The Northern Bohemia - the Development of the Criminality in Separate Districts in 1996 and 1997 | |||||||||||
Year 1996 | Year 1997 | change | |||||||||
Disctrict | disclosed crimes | clarified crimes | quantity./ 10th inhab. | clarification in % | disclosed crimes | clarified crimes | quantity./ 10th inhab. | clarifity in % | disclosed crimes in % | clarifity in % | % of clarifity |
Č. Lípa | 4 505 | 2 103 | 430 | 46,7 | 5 405 | 2 717 | 514 | 50,3 | 20,0 | 29,2 | 3,6 |
Děčín | 4 859 | 2 308 | 363 | 47,5 | 4 448 | 2 220 | 333 | 49,9 | -8,5 | -3,8 | 2,4 |
Chomutov | 5 190 | 2 409 | 415 | 46,4 | 5 076 | 2 447 | 405 | 48,2 | -2,2 | 1,6 | 1,8 |
Jablonec n. Nisou | 3 620 | 1 424 | 408 | 39,3 | 3 540 | 1 438 | 399 | 40,6 | -2,2 | 1,0 | 1,3 |
Liberec | 6 132 | 2 035 | 384 | 33,2 | 5 905 | 2 119 | 370 | 35,9 | -3,7 | 4,1 | 2,7 |
Litoměřice | 4 166 | 1 931 | 366 | 46,4 | 4 554 | 2 226 | 400 | 48,9 | 9,3 | 15,3 | 2,5 |
Louny | 2 822 | 1 223 | 328 | 43,3 | 2 808 | 1 232 | 327 | 43,9 | -0,5 | 0,7 | 0,5 |
Most | 4 743 | 1 725 | 395 | 36,4 | 5 323 | 2 082 | 444 | 39,1 | 12,2 | 20,7 | 2,7 |
Teplice | 6 872 | 2 198 | 539 | 32,0 | 7 101 | 2 394 | 553 | 33,7 | 3,3 | 8,9 | 1,7 |
Ústí n.L. | 5 471 | 2 211 | 462 | 40,4 | 5 178 | 2 459 | 436 | 47,5 | -5,4 | 11,2 | 7,1 |
In total | 48 380 | 19 567 | 411 | 40,4 | 49 338 | 21 334 | 418 | 43,2 | 2,0 | 9,0 | 2,8 |