Burglars favour weekday winter evenings
People living in Germany are most at risk of having their houses broken into on a weekday evening during the winter, figures released on Thursday revealed. Built-up areas in western states are particular hotspots.
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The report from the Federal Office for Criminal Investigation (BKA) showed that burglars are at their most active between 5pm and 9pm in the winter months of October to March. Wednesday to Friday were the most popular days for break-ins, with fewer incidents on a weekend.
Favoured booty included cash, jewellery, cameras, mobile phones, laptops, tablets and house and car keys. On average, the BKA believes a burglar gets away with around €4,610 worth of stolen goods per break-in, the Welt newspaper reported.
BKA research also showed that in 2012, 71 percent of suspected break-ins were done by German citizens. Other nationalities that cropped up the most often were Bulgarian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian and Turkish.
“Baden-Württemberg also showed an increase of perpetrators from Moldova, Hungary and Greece,” said the report.
Experts believe that more professional criminals concentrate solely on winter months to carry out crimes.
Going off the 2012 figures, hotspots appear to be high density areas along the Rhine and Main rivers where cities such as Cologne, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt prove rich pickings for groups of organized criminals, according to the report.
Two-thirds of all burglaries between 2009 and 2012 were carried out in the states of Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia.
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The report from the Federal Office for Criminal Investigation (BKA) showed that burglars are at their most active between 5pm and 9pm in the winter months of October to March. Wednesday to Friday were the most popular days for break-ins, with fewer incidents on a weekend.
Favoured booty included cash, jewellery, cameras, mobile phones, laptops, tablets and house and car keys. On average, the BKA believes a burglar gets away with around €4,610 worth of stolen goods per break-in, the Welt newspaper reported.
BKA research also showed that in 2012, 71 percent of suspected break-ins were done by German citizens. Other nationalities that cropped up the most often were Bulgarian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian and Turkish.
“Baden-Württemberg also showed an increase of perpetrators from Moldova, Hungary and Greece,” said the report.
Experts believe that more professional criminals concentrate solely on winter months to carry out crimes.
Going off the 2012 figures, hotspots appear to be high density areas along the Rhine and Main rivers where cities such as Cologne, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt prove rich pickings for groups of organized criminals, according to the report.
Two-thirds of all burglaries between 2009 and 2012 were carried out in the states of Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia.
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