These acts of criminals occupy the investigators

It’s good news: last year, the police in the canton of Zurich recorded fewer crimes than ever before. In the crime statistics, the number of offenses in the canton fell by six percent. 2021 will go down in history as the year with the fewest crimes – since the survey was introduced in 2009. This is the conclusion of the 2021 crime statistics, which were published on Monday.

There are various reasons for the development. One of the most mentioned is the pandemic. The people of Zurich spent more time at home last year. Clubs and bars were temporarily closed, and major events such as the Street Parade were cancelled. The result: fewer break-ins, fewer thefts, fewer injuries. And fewer homicides.

However, that does not mean that the police would run out of work. Law enforcement agencies have seen an increase in crime in some areas. This led to more rapes, more violent crimes by young people and more crimes against senior citizens. In addition, the shift of crime into the digital space accelerated. Police and prosecutors are struggling in the following six areas:

A sad exception to the trend in crime is rape. As in the previous year, the police recorded a new high here. An increase of more than 5 percent was registered across the entire canton. The development is particularly striking in the city of Zurich. In comparison to the previous year, 38 percent more rapes were registered here. In the summer in particular, there was an accumulation. And unlike in 2020, a larger proportion of these crimes did not take place within your own four walls.

This raises questions. Beat Rhyner, head of the ad interim criminal department at the Zurich city police, says: “From the summer of 2021, the number of reported rapes increased. Among other things, we attribute this to the lifting of corona measures.” There has also been an increase in such crimes in public spaces.

The number of solved rape cases is usually relatively high. Most victims and perpetrators know each other. In the previous year, the rate was 90 percent. In 2021, however, it has fallen to 81 percent. Rhyner explains this with an accumulation of cases with unknown perpetrators. “Young adult women were particularly affected. Some of the victims had enormous memory gaps.” In several cases knockout drops were suspected or alcohol was involved. “It is correspondingly more difficult in such cases to reconstruct the course of events and to identify the alleged perpetrators.”

Last year, 192 rapes were reported to the police throughout the canton, all of the suspects being men. 86 offenses were committed by foreigners. The majority of the victims were under 24 years old.

The development is similar throughout Switzerland. A total of 757 rapes were reported last year, an increase of 6 percent.

The police in Winterthur responded last fall. Patrols increasingly checked young partygoers and consistently took dangerous objects and knives from them. It was one of many measures in the fight against increasing youth violence in the canton. The cantonal police made the fight against crime a priority, and a prevention campaign was launched.

The background: The number of juvenile offenders increased slightly last year – by around 7 percent to 2697 suspects. A trend that has been going on for several years. In contrast, the police recorded significantly fewer robbery offenses in 2021, although the criminal statistics state that some of the offenses in this area have not yet been clarified.

Zurich security director Mario Fehr hopes that the authorities’ work will slowly bear fruit. Fehr was also convinced that the way in which Switzerland dealt with the pandemic contributed to the fact that juvenile delinquency did not increase more. “The schools stayed open, young people were able to return to sports clubs early on. That certainly helped to prevent acts of boredom.”

Every day, police officers in the canton of Zurich have to turn out 18 times because of violence within their own four walls. And in almost every fifth case, the emergency services impose protective measures. A violent offender can be expelled from the apartment for 14 days. And he may be banned from entering certain areas or contacting the victim.

The police had to use this tool more than 1,200 times last year to reduce the risk of domestic violence. Nevertheless, in 2021 there were more than 6,600 police reports in the context of domestic violence. Despite these measures: In some of the cases, the police came too late. Three of the five completed homicides in the canton of Zurich last year occurred in the home.

In Switzerland too, more than half of the homicides took place within one’s own four walls. Last year 15 women and one man were killed in current or former relationships. Three of the fatalities were children killed by a parent.

As can be seen here, it is mostly women and girls who are victims of domestic violence. This means that the perpetrators are usually current or former partners. Or relatives. In terms of the number of crimes, there has been a slight decrease of three percent. Nevertheless, the level remains high in a long-term comparison.

The authorities have been focusing on domestic violence for a long time. Gone are the days when police officers asked the wife at the front door if she really wanted to report her husband. Now the police strongly recommend that all victims file a report.

The fight against domestic violence is a priority for the government council. Emergency services are trained specifically for this area, and counseling centers and women’s shelters have received additional financial support over the last year. One problem, however, is the withdrawal of reports, which is often due to pressure from the perpetrators.

Seniors are considered a particularly vulnerable group. According to the Zurich cantonal police, they are always the focus of criminal groups. Well-known example: telephone fraud. The criminals pretend to be police officers or grandchildren in an attempt to get their hands on the money.

The authorities recorded a particularly large number of fake police officers and grandchildren tricksters last year. Over 2,400 such cases were reported to the police last year. However, the fraudsters were only successful with this scam in 59 cases. The total amount of the crime was almost 2.4 million Swiss francs.

However, there could be far more cases. The police are assuming that the number of unreported cases is above average. The aim is to counter the problem with the creation of a specialist office and prevention campaigns. The employees of the specialist department are not only a point of contact for those affected, but should also contribute to the early detection of trends and appropriate countermeasures. The focus is not only on attempts at fraud, but also cases of violence and neglect in old age.

Cyber ​​criminals are becoming more and more of a concern for the authorities. Christiane Lentjes Meili, chief of the criminal investigation department of the Zurich cantonal police, blames the digitization of everyday life, but also the restrictions during the pandemic. This has accelerated the shift of criminal activities into the digital sphere.

The police recorded an increase in digital fraud and extortion, for example. The number of extortions, for example, rose from 201 to 348, most of which took place in the digital space. The crimes in this area range from cyber attacks on companies and phishing attempts via email to sextortion cases, in which perpetrators blackmail their victims by publishing nude photos, for example.

Criminals are also up to mischief on digital trading platforms such as Tutti, Ricardo or Marketplace, which are popular with bargain hunters. According to the Zurich crime statistics, this is one of the fastest growing forms of fraud.

Hacker attacks and the use of ransomware have also increased in the past year. The absolute number of cases is still small: last year they accounted for almost 1 percent of all violations of the criminal code. According to statistics, however, the crimes are often associated with particularly high crime sums and damage for the victims – because, for example, data from companies is published. In addition, investigations in this area are often difficult.

Police officers, paramedics and ticket inspectors have been more and more victims of attacks in the past year. The number of crimes involving violence and threats against authorities and officials has increased by seven percent. While 707 offenses were registered in 2020, there were already 757 last year. The vast majority of offenses were recorded in the city of Zurich – with 461 cases, a new high.

That’s why Beat Rhyner, head of the criminal department at the Zurich city police, calls the result “unpleasant”. Employees of public transport were particularly affected last year, but also employees of the Zurich city police and social services. Rhyner also sees a connection with the Corona crisis: “Many people became thinner during the pandemic.”

Acts of violence also occurred around football games. The Zurich transport company reacted to this a few weeks ago with drastic measures. Anyone who has attended a football match in Letzigrund has to walk home. The operation of trams and buses around the Letzigrund has been suspended until further notice. The reason: there were always dangerous situations after games. Last December, for example, a tram driver had to be hospitalized after an attack.