Fewer road traffic accidents and burglaries

Over the course of 2018, the Zug police recorded fewer road traffic accidents and burglaries but more incidents of domestic violence and cybercrime; and it is these last two areas that additional specialist officers are needed.
 

Speaking about the latest crime figures, the head of security in the canton, Beat Villiger, said he was very pleased that they showed that the number of crimes over the course of last year had been reduced to 5,663, compared with 6,247 the year before, figures which also showed an 11 per-cent decrease when compared with the average for the past five years.

The statistics further showed that, whereas there were 51 crimes per person committed nationally over the course of last year, the figure relating to Zug was only 34.8. As mentioned, burglaries were down to 136 in relation to public buildings, compared with 161 in 2017, and down to 167 with regard to private households, compared with 228 the previous year.

The police were also very successful in solving incidents of crime, in one area in particular, that of physical offences against the person, where the detection rate was 97 per cent in Zug, compared with 87 per cent nationally.

When it came to cybercrime, the Zug police investigated 222 incidents of this last year, compared with 176 in 2017, and this remains a challenge for the force. Indeed, it is looking to recruit more specialist staff in this area. Thomas Nabholz, the head of criminal investigation in the force, mentioned, for example, that there was no one specialist officer available to monitor chat activity which could be linked to sexual crime against children.

As Villiger pointed out, as a result of economic cutbacks, there were 12 fewer offices in the force, though in order to keep up with the increase in population, 30 new officers ought to have been recruited.

As mentioned, there was increase in the number of incidents of domestic abuse, up by 44 to 292 (without subsequent prosecution), and up by 9 to 147 in cases where prosecution ensued. In this area too, as Armbruster further mentioned, while there was a domestic abuse unit in the force, it is not currently able to operate fully, such as in counselling victims and perpetrators, as a result of cutbacks. And it was pointed out that it was just such counselling which could help to prevent reoffending. “Ideally, we would like to recruit another specialist in this area,” he said. It was mentioned, too, how domestic violence would be highlighted by police at their stand at this year’s Zug Fair. Otherwise, the senior officer was generally pleased with the efforts of his force, not least in the preventive area, and in the quick response on the part of mobile patrols.

As to the number of policemen per head of population in the canton of Zug, this amounts to 1 per 527, whereas in the country as a whole the ratio is 454 policemen to every individual. It was noted, too, that authorities can report people they think could be violent to the police, though there is only one specialist policeman working on this; out of interest, 16 such cases were reported.

Another time-consuming matter for police officers was in requesting judicial assistance from persons abroad, of which there were 569 cases last year, up by 184 on the previous year. In a great many cases this was in relation to crypto-currency matters, again an area where specialist staff are required. “This is a great challenge we face,” added Armbruster. “Do we recruit more specialist staff at the expense of more general officers or vice versa?”

On a more encouraging point, there were fewer road traffic accidents in the canton last year, with just one person killed, 63 seriously injured and 220 slightly injured, these figures being the lowest since 2009.