Over half of the crime reported to the Dutch police last year involved theft or burglary, according to new data from Statistics Netherlands.
The Dutch police registered 1.19 million crimes last year, about as many as in 2010. Fifty-six percent of these crimes were thefts or burglaries. Last year’s top 5 of thefts were: theft from cars, bicycle theft, housebreaking/burglary, shoplifting, and pick-pocketing.
While theft from cars was the most common type of theft, the police report that this figure was reduced by 5 percent last year compared to 2010. Meanwhile the number of stolen cars dropped by 6 percent.
The number of thefts of regular and light mopeds rose by 6 percent in 2011 compared to 2010, and shoplifting and street robberies both increased by 3 percent. There was also a considerable increase in reported break-ins and pick-pocketing, with both seeing an 8 percent rise in 2011.
Not surprisingly, household break-ins are more common in major Dutch cities. With nearly 5.400 registered cases, Amsterdam tops the list with respect to burglaries and theft from houses. However, this figure dropped not only in Amsterdam, but also in The Hague and Utrecht compared to 2010.
All in all, the number of registered burglaries was greater than 1.000 in 15 Dutch municipalities in 2011. In most of these municipalities this figure was higher in 2011 than in 2010, including dramatic increases in Almere, Zoetermeer and Enschede.