For weeks they were the subject of scuffles, political bickering, but the figures are already on the table. Crime continues to escalate in the Region of Murcia at the hands of robberies, thefts and ‘cybercrimes’. In 2022, the Community witnessed up to 1,995 robberies with violence and intimidation, an average of five each day, according to the balance provided this Friday by the Ministry of the Interior. The figure represents a rise of up to 45.1% compared to the previous year –and 29.9% if compared to 2019–.
The State Security Corps and Forces came to register, throughout the past year, up to 68,678 criminal offenses –crimes and misdemeanors– in the Region, an average of 188 per day. The figure represents an increase of 18.5% compared to the crime registered in the previous year, a rise somewhat less than that registered at the national level (of 18.8%).
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The restrictions that the covid brought hand in hand marked, however, in 2021 the lowest crime figures in recent times, as Interior remarks in its report. The crime suffered by the Region is now greater, however, than it was before the ‘impasse’ of the pandemic. The increase in the community is 20.3% compared to 2019, a much more powerful rush than the 5.7% that was experienced in the rest of the country.
Evolution of Crime
in the Region of Murcia
By autonomous communities
Evolution %.
January to December 2022 on 2019
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Evolution of Crime
in the Region of Murcia
By autonomous communities
Evolution %.
January to December 2022 on 2019
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Evolution of Crime in the Region of Murcia
By autonomous communities
January to December 2022 on 2019
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Delegate’s accounts
Crime figures had been the subject of a tense political confrontation in the Region in recent weeks. In mid-February, the government delegate, José Vélez, during a visit to the Civil Guard barracks and the Cartagena National Police station, denounced “the social alarm that the political parties PP and VOX are generating unfounded with hoaxes.” . He explained that crimes and misdemeanors fell in the Region by 36% compared to 2017, before the legislature began. And that robberies at homes and facilities also fell by 22.6% at the regional level. “A negative security environment is being created to capture votes,” he stressed.
The crimes and misdemeanors registered in 2022 are, indeed, lower than those of 2017 –52,741 compared to 52,690– but higher than those registered in 2021 and in 2019, references to which the Government delegate did not allude. Vélez’s assertions caused the national deputy of the Popular Party, Isabel Borrego, to accuse the government delegate of “lying.” Using data collected between January and September of last year, Borrego warned of an increase in crime of up to 20.6% compared to 2021. In his opinion, the delegate “tries to cover up the lack of troops” of the National Police and the Civil Guard for “bad planning”. Vélez maintains, however, that in the Region “we are at historical figures for Civil Guard and National Police personnel and the replacement rate exceeds 100%.”
Offenders on the Net
Interior, in its report – which includes data from all the provincial capitals and municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants – discriminates between conventional crime and cybercrime. In the case of the first, the Region now registers up to 10.7% more crimes and misdemeanors than in 2019, the third largest increase in the country – only surpassed by La Rioja and Cantabria.
The increase in the figures for conventional crime in 2022 is explained, in part, by the increase in violent robberies and with intimidation, but also other criminal modalities, such as assaults on homes and establishments. The activity of the gangs that devastate the community was noticed mainly in this type of criminal modality, with numerous attacks on businesses and houses, mainly after the summer. Between January and December of last year, according to the Interior data, a whopping 5,339 assaults were recorded in homes and community establishments, 9.5% more. In this case, the figure is lower – up to 13.5% – than what the community faced before the pandemic broke out.
The robberies with force in houses increased, specifically, 5.1% last year, mainly in the area of Cieza (81), Jumilla (80) and Lorca (150). In municipalities such as Murcia, Molina de Segura and Mazarrón, however, this type of blows were reduced compared to other exercises. These types of blows also show lower figures than before the pandemic.
The Region also recorded up to 15,466 thefts last year, 29.7% more than those registered the previous year (2.2% more than in 2019). Vehicle thefts, for their part, grew by 16.7% last year but are still at lower levels than before Covid.
Despite the general increase in crime in the Community, there was a slight improvement in some crimes. One of the crimes that fell the most last year in the Region was intentional homicides and completed murders. Throughout those twelve months, eight crimes were registered, six less than the previous year. In addition, there were half a hundred cases of people unsuccessfully trying to take the life of another, five more cases than just a year earlier. The Ministry also recorded more than 1,150 offenses for injuries or riots, 34% more.
The rise in ‘cybercrimes’ is, however, especially significant: up to 146.5% more than before the pandemic. The Region of Murcia is the second community that has seen the activity of cybercriminals grow the most, with more than 8,600 computer scams that were reported.
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