How safe is Luxembourg, and is crime on the rise? We took a look at the available data to find out.
Alongside salary and cost of living, safety and security play a big role when it comes to choosing where to live. While the Grand Duchy is generally seen as safe, the attentive reader will not have failed to notice the recent reports on burglaries, concerns over safety the Gare district and many other incidents.
Comments abound on social media about the decline of safety in Luxembourg - but are these observations supported by available data? We have dug a bit deeper into Luxembourg's crime numbers, contacted the police, and came up with some interesting results.
In the next part of this article, we'll be looking at five different types of crime: property offences, burglaries, offences against people, narcotics, and homicides, and see how these have changed in the recent years, but also compared to 2000.
Property offences
Property offences are the main source of crime in Luxembourg and count for almost 60% of all offences.
Petty theft, shoplifting, pick-pocketing and theft at petrol stations are part of the miscellaneous category that saw an increase of 17.73% from 2020 to 2021. According to a spokesperson at the police, this can largely be attributed to an increase in declared fuel thefts. The presumed perpetrators are frequently 'normal' people who have simply forgotten to pay, or accidentally indicated the wrong gas pump number when paying.
© AFP
Violent robberies have also increased, with 505 cases in 2021 compared to 420 cases in 2020. This increase is explained by criminal acts that mainly happen in Luxembourg City and target valuables like jewellery.
19 armed robberies targeted gas stations and other establishments and businesses.
Vehicle-related theft also increased by 12.82% from 2020 to 2021. Thefts in connection with vehicles have steadily increased and in recent years, the number of stolen bikes in particular has significantly risen and now represents a big part of the thefts in connection with vehicles.
Burglaries
According to the police, the fight against burglaries is a priority. Preventive and repressive measures are put in place onthe basis of daily analysis and recent developments. This include targeted patrols, reinforced police presence at key times, information sessions and raising awareness.
After the fact, police measures consist of searching for the perpetrator, neighbourhood surveys and the preservation of evidence.
It is important to note that the police distinguished between two different categories of burglaries: one being in inhabited houses (houses, apartments, cellars) and the other being uninhabited premises (shops, businesses, construction sites).
Inhabited burglaries have increased slightly, with uninhabited burglaries increasing by 21.56% from 2019 to 2021.
493 burglaries that were committed between 2012 and 2021were solved in 2021, with 109 people arrested for crimes of this nature throughout that year.
© Fotolia
Offences against people
Offences against people represent 20.6% of all recorded offences and increased by 5.24% from 2020 to 2021.
Instances of intentional assault and battery reported to the police increased from 2,829 in 2020 to 2,967 in 2021.
The police spokesman agreed thatthe general readiness for violence has increased and categorises this as general phenomena of society.
Domestic violence has slightly decreased, even though women's shelters are overcrowded in Luxembourg.
Narcotics
The fight against narcotics is another priority for the police and they were particularly active in this area in 2021. Police action is now focused more on investigative work and targeted actions in the field, which also explains the fact that the total number of cases was reduced by more than 800 files.
From prevention through presence in the field to judicial investigation, all police units are committed and involved in the fight against narcotics, whether in the context of preventive patrols, the search for information or during major controls.
Arrests went up to 168 people in 2021, compared to 111 in 2020.
Homicides
The police differentiates between two different categories for homicide: murderand manslaughter, with the former being committed with an aggravating circumstance, i.e. premeditation.
Only a couple of homicides happen each year in Luxembourg, with 14 recorded between 2017 and 2021.
2019 saw the most homicides with one being a murder and three manslaughters.With ahomicide rateof only 0.65, Luxembourg was ninth-lowest in relation to 37 other European countries.
In 2012, Eurostat published a study that ranked Luxembourg City in the top three most dangerous cities in Europe. In reality Luxembourg was the capital with the least homicidesand four people were victims of a homicide the year before.
This result was due to the small size of the country and its capital. The statistic proposed an average per 100,000 inhabitants, which may seem relevant for many European countries and their capitals, but it does not fit for a city with less than 100,000 inhabitants. The previous year, four people were victims of a homicide.
The Gare district
Police presence in the district has been a never-ending source of debate, with politicians and residents demanding more action. Private security has been brought in to provide additional security, and mayor Lydie Polfer recently confirmed that the collaboration with the private firms will continue in 2023.
How safe or unsafe the Gare district is is up for debate and, Monica Camposeo recently wrote an opinion around the dangerous rhetoric surrounding the Gare.
A couple of weeks ago we published a study that the European Union has made positive progress when it comes to accountability, inclusivity, and justice in their own institutions.
Some indicators used were related to crime:
According to the police spokesperson, people are less hesitant to inform the police when a crime has taken place, which may explain in part the overall increase in reported crimes.
According to Eurostat, there has has also been a positive development in the number of people who perceive that they face a problem of crime, violence, or vandalism in their local area. Where in 2014 some 16.8% of respondents to a survey said that this was an issue, that number had decreased to 11% in 2020 - placing Luxembourg just above the EU average of 10.7%.
On the face of it these may seem contradictory, as the perception of crime being an issue has decreased according to Eurostat, but reports have increased according to the police. We explore this further in the last section of this article, where we look at crime per capita.
© Eurostat
When it comes to feeling safe when walking alone in the dark, 27.8% feel a bit/very unsafe and 36.9% feel fairly safe. 35.2% feel very safe walking alone in the dark.
Compared to other EU countries, Luxembourg still finds itself above average with 35.2% feeling very safe, still placing it 31.2 percentage points behind Malta.
© Eurostat
In 2020, our colleagues at 5Minutes gathered accounts of living around Luxembourg City's controversial Gare district and it seems like not much has changed since then.
Looking at comments in and around RTL Today articles reporting upon violence, police presence and the Gare district, it becomes clear that residents are still not satisfied with the measures that are currently in place.
2000-2021 - and viewing crime through a per capita lens
The number of crimes recorded by the police has been going up since 2017, with 42,875 crimes being reported in 2021, only 212 less than in 2014, the record year so far. Furthermore, the police reported an increase in the clearance rate to 53.2% compared to the average of 51.7% for 2017-2021.
But we mustn't forget that Luxembourg's population has grown considerably over the last decades, which makes comparisons of the absolute number of crimes less valuable. More interesting in many ways it to look at crime rates per capita - that is, taking into account the size of the population in relation to the number of reported crimes.
Compared to 2000, total crimes per capita have increased by 28%. This, as mentioned above, is something the police spokesman said was in part due to an increased readiness to report crime - and some category-specific changes can be explained by differing and changing approaches to crime categorisation.
The below charts draw from a Statec report detailing crime within specific categories, and compare the year 2000 to 2021. The first chart shows the percentage change in reported crimes within each categoryper capita, while the second chat shows the change in terms of the absolute number of reported crimes within the same categories.
Two categories have seen a per capita decrease, as burglaries decreased by 28.1%, and thefts in connection with vehicles decreased by 50.6%. However, in real terms the number of burglaries did increase slightly (from 2,951 in the year 2000, to 3,106 last year).
The largest increase on a per capita basis can be seen in 'offences against people' (+156%), and the sub-category '...of which acts of violence' (+104.83%).
These categories in particular seem to have increased significantly, which would tally with the other data and anecdotal evidence presented above. However, the police spokesperson rightly points out that the numbers must also be understood within the context of their reporting. They represent initial notifications received by the police, which 'does not necessarily mean that there actually have been as many cases'.
In other words, it may well be the case that investigation into each case may lead to the conclusion that no crime was in fact committed. On the other hand, the spokesman also noted that there may be 'grey numbers', i.e. cases that did occur but were not reported to the police.