Fewer young burglars (2024)

04/04/2022 15:00

In 2021, over 2 thousand people were registered as house burglary suspects, 24 percent fewer than in the previous year. Over the span of a decade, the number of both domestic burglaries and associated suspects has fallen by 75 percent. There are mainly fewer young suspects. The number of violent and sexual crime suspects decreased by 11 percent last year. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on the basis of new figures on registered crime suspects.

Over the past decade, the number of domestic burglaries has declined by 75 percent to 23.5 thousand. In approximately 1 out of 10 cases, the police found a suspect. In 2012, the national police force still registered 8,440 house burglary suspects; this number had fallen to 2,110in 2021. A quarter of the suspects did not have an official residential address in the Netherlands. Whereas, in 2012, half of the suspects were under the age of 25, this had dropped to 1 out of 3 in 2021. This means that the average age of burglars has risen from 28 to 31.5 years.

CBS has not investigated causal links between the coronavirus pandemic and committed crimes; however, it is likely that crime rates in 2020 and 2021 were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and the measures taken in that context. For example, working from home and limited or no options for nightlife entertainment reduced the risk of house burglary. Compared to 2020, the number of registered suspects of domestic burglary was down by 24 percent.

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Relatively many burglaries in the Central Netherlands region

The municipalities with the highest burglary rate (per 1,000 households) in 2021 are almost all located in the province of Utrecht and in the Gooi area. At more than 8 per 1,000 households, Zeist saw relatively the highest number of domestic burglaries. Laren (Noord-Holland), Baarn, Boekel, De Bilt, Rhenen, Gooise Meren and Veenendaal also had significantly more burglaries than the national average of 2.9 per 1,000 households. The rate was lowest in Harlingen and Dinkelland (0.5 incidents per 1,000 households). Of the four large cities, Utrecht recorded relatively the highest number of burglaries (3.8 per 1,000 households) while Rotterdam saw relatively the lowest (3.1 incidents).

Also sharp decline in violent crime

As of 2012, the number of police-recorded violent and sexual crimes dropped by 31 percent, to 76 thousand in 2021. As at 1 January 2022, the police had associated 34 thousand suspects with the violent crimes that took place in 2021. Of all violent crime suspects registered in 2012, 4 in 10 were again recorded as suspects of a violent crime over the past ten years.

Twice as many violent crimes in large cities

In 2021, there were 4.3 police-recorded violent and sexual offences per 1,000 inhabitants. In Rotterdam, The Hague and Amsterdam, the rate was between 8 and 9, i.e. twice as high. Vlieland, Cranendonck, Schiedam and Vlaardingen also had relatively high levels of violent crime. In the city of Utrecht, the number of crimes per 1,000 inhabitants (approximately 4.5) hardly deviated from the national average. At 1 incident per 1,000 inhabitants, the violent crime rate was lowest in Midden-Delfland, Tubbergen and Dinkelland.