Crime-solving rate remains low
Austrian police failed to significantly improve their success rate last year, new figures show.Federal Crime Office (BK) director Franz Lang announced today (Tues) the number of reported crimes declined by 9.4 per cent year on year in 2010 to 535,745 cases. Lang also said police in Austrias nine provinces managed to solve 41.4 per cent of felonies carried out that year. This rate is just a slight improvement compared to the success rate of 39.9 per cent in 2009.Lang stressed that the number of burglaries into houses and flats decreased by 39 per cent and 18 per cent respectively in 2010. The BK chief said the Austrian polices decision to intensify cooperation with colleagues in neighbouring countries proved to be a good idea.Peoples Party (ÖVP) Interior Minister Maria Fekter, who is in charge of political issues affecting Austrian police, said such measures would be continued to further lower the number of “criminal tourists” entering Austria. Fekter caused uproar with her right-wing policies and many controversial statements over the years.Todays figures also show that the number of victims of so-called cyber crimes felonies happening on the internet shot up from just 38 reported cases in 2009 to 1,490 notifications to police the next year.The province of Salzburg recorded the most dramatic decline of reported crimes from 2009 to 2010 with minus 14 per cent ahead of Lower Austria (minus 13 per cent) and Upper Austria (minus 11 per cent).Police in Vorarlberg were meanwhile found to have the highest success rate in solving felonies as 57 per cent of reported incidents were solved. Police in Burgenland (54 per cent) and Tyrol (50 per cent) also did well, while the police force in Vienna are straggling behind with just 32 per cent.