Crime has halved since the covid-19 pandemic began, with pickpocketing theft being one of the crimes that fell the most, while the fraud with bank fraud that grew the most, according to a report from the government.
The report of the second period of the state of emergency and delivered to the Assembly of the Republic indicates that the PSP recorded 7,852 crimes between March 13 and April 17, 50% less than in the same period of 2019, when 17,458 occurred.
The data also shows that arrests made by the Public Security Police dropped 60.4% in the same period, from 2,780 in 2019 to 1,104 this year.
The period from March 13 to April 17 corresponds to the date on which the alert situation was declared due to covid-19 until the end of the second period of the state of emergency.
The report, signed by the Minister of Internal Affairs, states that the crimes that fell the most during that period, according to the PSP, were pickpocketing theft (-91.9%), driving for excess alcohol (-82.9%) , offenses to simple voluntary physical integrity (-67.2%), theft in a motor vehicle (-58%) and theft of opportunity (-82.5%).
In turn, the crimes that rose the most in the area of PSP, which operates in urban centers, were disobedience (94.3%), fraud with bank fraud (67.6%), other thefts (114.3%) and resistance and coercion on employees (12.8%).
In the report, in which the Government gives a detailed account of the measures adopted during the state of emergency, the PSP mentions that “there is an increased interest in the monitoring of certain specific crimes”, namely domestic violence and fraud.
According to the PSP, between March 13 and April 17, 1,105 crimes of domestic violence were registered, 34.7% less than in the same period last year, when 1,692 complaints were made.
The number of detainees for domestic violence also dropped, with 27 fewer, from 88 to 61.
The PSP states that in crimes against property in general, which includes fraud, there is a decrease of 16%, noting that there was a “substantial increase in fraud with bank fraud” and a slight increase in the number of complaints of computer fraud and communications.
In the report, GNR says that during the emergency period there was an increase in scams, thefts and thefts, but it does not specify.
During the meetings of the State of Emergency Monitoring Structure, the GNR drew attention to the difficulties in communicating the lists made available by the health authorities of people subject to mandatory home confinement, stating that “not all lists were received”.
The PSP also indicates that “44.5% of the identifications in the listings are incomplete, thus inhibiting the continuation of active surveillance measures”.
It is up to the PSP and the GNR to inspect people who are in mandatory home confinement, resorting to a crime of disobedience if they go out on the street.
The report on the application of the second period of the state of emergency, between 03 and 17 April, due to the covid-19 pandemic, will be discussed in the Assembly of the Republic on Thursday.
Portugal accounts for 948 deaths associated with covid-19 in 24,322 confirmed cases of infection, according to the daily bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) on the pandemic released today.