Burglaries happen every 90 seconds
Break-ins continued to rise across France in 2012 but number of killings fell
BURGLARIES are happening every 90 seconds in France according to new statistics that show 352,600 house robberies in 2012.
The figures from the Observatoire National de la Délinquance et des Réponses Pénales (ONDRP) said break-ins had risen 8.5% last year after rising 17% in 2011.
ONDRP head Christophe Soullez, a criminologist, said the “the soaring price of gold had whetted appetites for jewellery” and such easily transportable items were easily sold on the black market.
Burglaries rose 4.7 % in Police Nationale areas and 14.7 % in areas policed by the Gendarmerie.
The figures, revealed by Interior Minister Manuel Valls, also showed that the number of killings had fallen – down 2.3% in Police areas and by 22.4% in Gendarmerie areas.
This is the first time that figures have been separated out by Police and Gendarmerie areas and comes after the ONDRP was startled by an increase in Gendarmerie crime figures since it started using new software a year ago.
It said that in the past some crime reports had been suspended pending inquiries and only published if an offence was proven. The new software now included all these hidden offences.
