CrimeMalta Observatory annual crime review : year 2019

Abstract

2019 crime figures depict a year-on-year reduction in crime reports which follow a year that depicted a drastic decline in reported crimes as published in the Annual Crime Report of 2018. The year 2019 saw a decrease in the number of crimes over the previous year dropping by 2.1% or 336, this being the second largest decrease since 2015. This takes the Maltese crime scenario to the 2012 level, which serves as the baseline prior to the increase in crimes exhibited from that year. The Maltese offence profile has maintained the past years’ shift from a public-oriented to a personal-target structure with an increasing focus on financial-related offences. Interestingly, Malta may be perceived as becoming more dangerous due to the high drop in pickpocketing which pushes up the relative ratio of serious crimes, even though the latter have decreased or remained constant. Displacement is also very evident as the migration of crimes from one zone to another becomes more pronounced, particularly in the Gozitan Island, the latter due to an increasingly dynamic and diverse societal change. San Giljan’s rate of crime once again dropped by 4% from a height of 19.5 in 2012 to 10.6% in 2017 and again to 9.1% in 2019, the lowest in the last 14 years. In terms of societal reaction, moral panic still plays a part in rendering a perception that crime is increasing, when the facts depict a stabilised scenario. In terms of predicted crimes for 2019, with a drastic increase in resident population and also the number of tourists, the number of crimes that should have occurred during the year, again did not occur, resulting in a safer scenario, again stressing the need to study the serious crimes and ensure their reduction.