The pandemic and state of alarm cause a significant fall in crime in Spain. The Spanish capital Madrid has the best results in this regard, as police services reported a 27.3% decrease in the number of criminal offences last year.
In absolute numbers, this means the number of criminal offences recorded in Spain’s capital has fallen from 252,363 in 2019 to 183,375 in 2020. These numbers combine the Guardia Civil, Policía Nacional and municipal police figures, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported on Wednesday.
Crime rates fall in Madrid
Madrid’s regional government announced this significant drop on Wednesday. Nowhere else in Spain has this decline been so great. Crime in Madrid also fell by 18.1% in the first quarter of 2021. The number of burglaries in the capital fell by a whopping 43%. There has also been a 29.1% decrease in the number of violent robberies and intimidations. The number of murders and intentional manslaughter fell by 6.3%.
Madrid’s municipal police report the number of reports of drug use and possession of narcotics has almost halved in a year. The number of road accidents also fell by 36%. The number of occupational accidents decreased by about 26% compared to 2019.
All of Spain safer during State of Alarm measures
Regional government security services did say crime in the capital has fallen faster than in the autonomous region of Madrid. Crime here fell by 23% last year. This is still more than the average for Spain, where crime fell by 19.3% in 2020 compared to the previous year.
Logical consequence of the state of emergency in Spain
The Security Council of the Madrid regional government attributes this extreme decrease to the strict restrictions during the pandemic, particularly during the state of alarm. People’s freedom of movement was very minimal during this period. Not only was mobility very limited, but the number of meetings was also greatly reduced, resulting in far fewer people on the street. In addition, there was a lot of police on the street to monitor all measures during the state of alarm. It is only logical, that crime rates fall as a consequence.
