Prague, July 20 (CTK) – Crime in Czechia mainly torments cities, above all regional capitals of Prague, Brno, Olomouc, Ceske Budejovice and Ostrava, and also soars in northwest Bohemia and north Moravia, while the Vysocina Region is the safest of all, the Czech Statistical Office’s (CSU) analysis has shown.
Between 2013-2015, an average 280,300 crimes were annually reported in the Czech Republic, which is 32 crimes per 1,000 inhabitants aged over 15, according to the analysis the CSU has published in the Demografie (Demography) journal.
In the overall number of crime, the biggest share is that of thefts (36.4 percent) and burglaries (12 percent).
Violent crimes made up almost 6 percent of all reported crimes and financial crimes 10.7 percent in the given period.
The crime rate stood above the average on 12.7 percent of the country’s area, which, however, is an area where 38.4 percent of the population lives.
The crime rate stands high above the average mainly in some regional capitals that offer relative anonymity, a dynamic rhythm of life and, as a result of people’s shuttling to work, the number of people in them changes during the day.
They are mainly Prague and Brno, and also the central Moravian capital Olomouc, south Bohemian centre Ceske Budejovice and Ostrava, the capital of north Moravia.
Compared with them, the crime rate in the regional capitals of Plzen, Karlovy Vary (both west Bohemia), Hradec Kralove and Pardubice (both east Bohemia) is 50 percent lower.
In Prague, the areas with the highest crime rate are its southern and southeastern outskirts. The areas to the northeast and west of the centre, too, face an above-average crime rate, but still by one third lower than the former ones.
As for the regions, those with the highest crime rate are northwest and north Bohemia, which both tackle a long-term package of problems as “structurally afflicted areas” with a concentration of mines and industry, and north Moravia, where the crime is concentrated in towns.
The authors of the analysis, who are experts from Charles University’s Faculty of Science, also highlighted differences between the crime rate in various border areas.
In the structurally afflicted areas in northwest Bohemia, the crime is relatively high, as is in the former Sudeten areas, from where the German population was transferred after WWII and “artificially” replaced with Czechs, such as the northernmost parts of the country.
In contrast, the crime rate is lower in areas such the Domazlice area along the southwestern border whose population remained stable in the past.
Almost problem-free is the area bordering on Slovakia, where the crime rate mostly does not exceed 15 reported crimes a year.
The crime rate is also higher in areas where people like to have their weekend and summer houses, and also popular tourist localities in Krkonose (Giant Mountains), Sumava and Beskydy mountains.
The crime rate is the lowest in inland areas such as the Bohemian-Moravian Uplands in southwest Moravia, the Tabor area in south Bohemia and the Klatovy area in the southwest of the country, and also parts of south, central and eastern Moravia, the analysis showed.
