The number of reported thefts in Italy declined in 2015, with only a few types of offenses on the rise, such as online fraud, extortion and money laundering, according to figures from the Interior Ministry.
The total number of crimes reported to Italian authorities fell 4.5% in 2015 to 2.7 million, from 2.8 million the previous year. That followed an annual fall of 2.7% in 2014 after increases of 2.6% in 2013, 2% in 2012 and 5.4% in 2011.
The decline in reports concerns almost all types of crime. Total thefts fell 7% to less than 1.5 million, though they still made up more than half of all crimes reported. Within the theft category, in-house thefts were the most commonly reported, totaling 235,000 cases, though that was down 8.3% compared to the previous year.
Categories which bucked the trend in 2015 included online scams and fraud, with the number of reports totaling 145,000, up 8.8% compared to the previous year. Reports of extortion rose 20% and cases of laundering were up 13%. However, in terms of volumes these remain limited, with 10,000 cases of extortion and 1,800 cases of laundering reported in 2015. This is also partly linked to the difficulty for victims to report these types of crime.
General rankings
The average number of crimes reported in Italy is about 4,430 crimes for every 100,000 inhabitants. But in cities including Rimini, Milan and Bologna the rate is more than 7,000 per 100,000 inhabitants (followed by Turin and Rome).
Bigger cities and those located in the richer north of the country lead the crime rate rankings, due to their attraction for criminals. Rimini on Italy’s eastern Adriatic coast is an exception: it has only around 335,000 inhabitants, but its large tourist numbers and business activities make it a major draw, also for illegal operations (nevertheless in terms of volumes the amount of crime in Rimini is still a tenth of the total in cities such as Rome and Milan).
At the other end of the rankings, places registering low crime rates are mainly small towns.
Rome is in first place in terms of total crime volumes, followed by Milan, Turin and Naples. Crimes reported in these four cities make up 30% of the total reported in 2015.
Types of crime
In the “top ten” for in-house thefts, the cities of Ravenna, Savona and Lucca have the highest rates of houses affected, with more than 700 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, double the national average.
Rimini tops the rankings for rates of pick-pocketing, followed by Bologna and Milan. Overall pick-pocketing was on the decline, but the trend increased in some areas, including Naples, where rates were up 11%; Pisa, which saw an increase of 15%; Modena with a rise of 13%; and Parma with an increase of 26%.
Bologna, Milan and Rimini topped the rankings for rates of theft from commercial enterprises, and a third of provinces saw an increase. Trento saw a 24% increase in this sort of crime, and Bolzano experienced a rise of 5%. Milan, Rome and Turin were the cities with the highest number of shops affected.
Car owners were most at risk in the southern region of Puglia, particularly in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani and in Bari.
In terms of armed robbery and purse snatching, Naples came out on top, with the number of reported armed robberies per 100,000 inhabitants at more than triple the national average (195 cases compared to an average of 58 per 100,000 inhabitants) and the rate of bag snatching nearly triple the national average (83 cases versus an average of 29 per 100,000 inhabitants). Both types of crime saw an increase in half of Italy’s provinces.
by Rossella Cadeo, Italiy Europe 24