ZAGREB ZAGREB, Feb 20 (Hina) - Security in Zagreb and Zagreb County in 2003 was satisfactory, Zagreb Police Department chief Ivan Babic said on Friday, but cautioned that residents' subjective feeling of security or lack thereof was
more important than statistics.
ZAGREB, Feb 20 (Hina) - Security in Zagreb and Zagreb County in 2003
was satisfactory, Zagreb Police Department chief Ivan Babic said on
Friday, but cautioned that residents' subjective feeling of security
or lack thereof was more important than statistics.#L#
"Although we have recorded an 8.5 percent higher crime rate, we
consider the security situation satisfactory, but we are unhappy with
the citizens' subjective feeling," Babic told reporters presenting the
annual report on security and police performance in 2003.
Statistics paint a picture which is different to that which citizens
have, which is due to unresolved cases that have unsettled the public,
notably nine unresolved murders in the last four years, and a number
of explosions and physical assaults on journalists and public figures
for which no one has accounted yet, Babic said.
Of 80,000 criminal acts reported in Croatia last year nearly 33
percent were committed in the area covered by the Zagreb Police
Department, said Zeljko Prsa, head of the Zagreb criminal police
division.
With 2,420 criminal acts per 100,000 inhabitants, Zagreb is much safer
than Western European capitals, particularly Vienna in which more than
13,000 criminal acts are committed per 100,000 residents, police
said.
Last year there were 22 murders and the highest number of rapes in the
last five years - 32.
Robbery went up 19 percent, particularly in the pools. More than 80
percent of the pools were robbed last year, an increase of nearly 50
percent.
White-collar crime fell 12 percent, while the damage in 922 reported
cases was estimated in excess of 720 million kuna (EUR93.5 million).
The number of all kinds of offences went down 17 percent but
prostitution, both street and organised, is on the rise, said Goran
Burusic, head of the Zagreb central police.
He added that 98 people were killed in traffic accidents last year and
that this figure had fallen below 100 for the first time since 1969.
(Hina) ha sb