Balearic crime rate at 10-yr low

PALMA
THE crime rate in the Balearics last year was the lowest for a decade, Central Government Delegate in the Balearics Ramon Socias reported yesterday.
Presenting official figures in Palma, Socias said that the regional crime rate in 2010 stood at 63.4 cases of crime or infringement of the law for every 1'000 head of population. Apart from being the lowest rate for a decade, the figure is 13 points less than the total registered back in 2001 when it stood at 76.5 cases for every 1'000 head of population.

Last year's crime rate fell by 0.4 percent in comparison with figures for 2009 and by a full 28 points when seen against the rate for 2002 which stood at 91.7 cases for every 1'000 head of population.

Socias made it clear during the presentation that what concerned him and the national security forces was not the details of percentages per se, but rather the fact that the Balearic Islands is a safer place to be and that people living and visiting here perceive of the region as such.

Socias claimed that the falling crime rate had a great deal to do with the number of police and Guardia Civil officers who were now engaged on duty in the Balearics. He said that in 2003 there were 2'671 officers but by January this year, the figure had risen to 3'726 - 1'055 more.

The Central Government Delegate said that it was particularly satisfying to see evidence of falling crime rates in the Balearics because both the residential and business community had expressed fears of a “breakdown of law and order” as a result of the economic crisis.

He said that citizen safety in the Islands is further witnessed by 12 million tourists who come to the Balearics annually, adding that Spain as a whole is one of the safest countries in the European Union. Its crime rate is 22 points below the EU average.