Czech police: crime rates dropped during the coronavirus, no rise in domestic violence

Crime rates across the Czech Republic fell during the coronavirus state of emergency, police headquarters spokesman Ondrej Moravcik told journalists Monday.

There was a drop in nearly all forms of criminal activities during the state of emergency, officials said, though the biggest drop was in criminal acts connected with the outdoor movement of people.

In March, the overall crime rate fell by 25 percent; in April, the crime rate fell by a third and in May, the overall crime rate fell by seven percent, Moravcik said in a press release. The government declared the state of emergency on March 12. It ended in mid-May.

“As against last year, the number of burglaries diminished by over 13 percent, breach of the peace by 15 percent and thefts by almost 16 percent,” Moravcik said.

Domestic violence did not grow during the state of emergency, either.

In the first five months of 2020, the police saw a fifth growth in homicides; however, most of them occurred in February, before coronavirus emergency measures took place.

Authorities also monitored how often people followed the emergency measures during coronavirus; between March 16 and June 10, the police made nearly 1 million checks and found around 9,000 minor violations that they handed over to the relevant law enforcement bodies.

“Most often, there was the violation of the duty to wear face masks, of the gathering ban, and to have businesses closed due to the emergency rules,” Moravcik said.

He said that the police solved almost 200 minor delicts under the emergency law and the public health protection law right when they happened.

“However, the crushing majority of the violation of the government measures was only resolved by a reprimand and the police focused on providing information and prevention,” Moravcik said.

There were 18 cases of the crime of spreading an infectious disease connected with COVID-19, he added.

Between mid-March and mid-June, over 2,000 policemen served on the borders, most of them in May. The Czech-German and Czech-Polish border crossings needed the most protection, Moravcik said.

Throughout the period, the police checked over two million people when coming to the Czech Republic and roughly 1.8 million when leaving it on the border.

The police also helped repatriate Czechs during the state of emergency.

“In all, there were over 1,500 persons returning from abroad whom we helped when going to their place of residence,” Moravcik said.

In Czech Republic, the crime rate has been falling consistently for several years, except for 2019, when the crime rate rose 3.5 percent. In 2019, police recorded 199,221 criminal acts.