Crime rates fall in Malaga

MALAGA is one of the Spanish provinces where crime rates fell most between 2009 and 2010, beaten only by Zaragoza.

According to the General State Prosecutors’ Report, judicial procedures in the province fell 23.92 per cent to 219,461 in 2010, while Zaragoza saw a drop of 24.28 per cent.

Crime figures for 2010 fell in 34 provinces, including major cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, and rose in 16 provinces.

In the whole of Spain, the general drop in judicial procedures was thanks to the fact there were fewer robberies and thefts, falling by around 14 per cent, although there were more white-collar crimes which is believed to be a direct result of the economic crisis, and fraud, money laundering, falsification and proceeding for crimes against the tax office and Social Security increased by 40 per cent.

However, the State Prosecutor believes this is because there is more being done to crack down on such crimes.

Murders and intentional manslaughters fell by 3.41 per cent to 1,331 for 2010, bodily harm crimes also fell from 925,802 to 796,832, and crimes against sexual freedom fell by 7.45 per cent although rapes in particular were up by 49 from 2009.

Also on the positive side, the number of crimes committed by minors fell by 3.9 per cent to 105,879.