06/03/2023 12:19 (act. 06/03/2023 12:21)
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner on Monday presented crime statistics for 2022. ©APA/HANS PUNZ (archive)
Last year, after a dramatic decline in 2020 and 2021, the level of criminal charges was almost exactly the same as the last year before the pandemic, 2019.
In 2022 there were 488,949 criminal cases, in 2019 there were 488,912. The announcement was made on Monday at the presentation of crime statistics in Vienna. As in previous years, more than 50% of crimes were solved.
“Corona hole” in crime statistics 2022 closed again
“What happened was what experienced criminalists expected,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) said at the press conference. Police reporting statistics have returned to pre-pandemic levels. “So the Corona hole is closed again,” Karner said. He also cited the “three biggest challenges” and listed extremism, the fight against the trafficking mafia and cybercrime. “Some areas of criminality have gained particular dynamism as a result of the pandemic and have increased significantly,” said the interior minister, referring to extremism and cybercrime.
Sharp drop in ads during pandemic years
The pandemic years showed a sharp drop in complaints: 433,811 criminal offenses were registered in 2020, and in 2021 there were “only” 410,957. The Federal Criminal Police Station (BK) understands that this is due to the fact that the so-called classic criminality has suffered a decline, mainly due to the closure of late-night restaurants and lockdowns, which have severely restricted public life. According to BK, for example, there were significantly fewer robberies and bodily injuries in the area of night gastronomy.
Extremist Ads Rise During Corona Pandemic
Reports of extremism increased during the pandemic, according to Karner, criminal acts were at the same level in 2022 as 2021, but significantly higher than pre-Corona. Opponents of the state and conspiracy scene have spewed their crass theories at rallies and repeatedly touted right-wing and identitarian extremists, Karner said. In 2022, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution denounced more than 660 people, carried out more than 100 house searches and arrested 37 people.
Fighting the smuggling mafia is a challenge
The interior minister named the fight against the human smuggling mafia as a second challenge, “Dirty money is being made here, dead people play no role in this area of organized crime,” said Karner. In 2022, 687 people smugglers were arrested – a 56% increase, and “a few big fish” were among the suspects.
Another challenge is the area of cybercrime
The third challenging area is cybercrime. This has also grown as a result of digitization during the pandemic. In 2022, there were 30.4% more ads. The police crime statistic is a display statistic. The Minister of the Interior underlined that in this area “there is a growing desire on the part of the victims to denounce this”. The number of notifications went from 46,179 in 2021 to 60,195 cases last year. Consequently, cybercrime is a particular focus of the criminal service reform, which is being negotiated between project managers under the aegis of BK Director Andreas Holzer and representatives of Ministry of Interior and police staff. The most frequently recorded crimes are Internet fraud, but violent Internet crimes are also on the rise, which, according to the Ministry of Interior, may explain the global increase in violent crimes.