01/03/2021 - Hamburg
At the beginning of each year, the Hamburg police publish their Police Crime Statistics (PKS) on
the crime situation of the previous year.
This year, the
PKS for 2020 was released on
February 2, 2021. Of particular note in 2020 was the lowest level of residential burglaries
since 1972.
For the year 2020, the PKS lists the following figures for the whole of Hamburg:
Criminal offenses:* |
191,123 |
Violent offenses:* |
6,918 |
Thefts:* |
80,365 |
The individual districts of Hamburg show some dramatic differences in terms of criminal
offenses. For example, St. Georg (18,299 criminal offenses) heads the list of districts with the
most criminal offenses by a clear margin over St. Pauli (12,503). Accordingly, there are 5,769
crimes between St. Georg and St. Pauli, which corresponds to a difference of approximately 46
percent between St. Georg and St. Pauli. Between St. Georg and number three on the list, the
district of Harburg, there is a whopping 160 percent!
However, in order to be able to make a statement about the security situation of the individual
districts, one should not rely solely on the absolute figures. The relationship between the
absolute number of crimes and the number of inhabitants can provide additional information that
can be used for the individual assessment of the "dangerousness" of a district.
In the further course of this article, we will therefore repeatedly refer to the absolute and
relative figures.