Germany sees drop in crime during 1st year of pandemic

BERLIN (AP) — Germany saw a drop in reported crime last year, partly due to pandemic restrictions that kept people indoors, although there was a rise in child abuse, domestic violence and cybercrime. The country’s top security official, Horst Seehofer, said Thursday that some 5.3 million crimes were reported in Germany in 2020. That’s a decrease of 2.3% compared to the previous year — driven by a significant drop in burglaries, robberies and auto thefts. The figures continued a downward trend since 2016. However, Seehofer noted that there was a rise in child abuse, cybercrimes, fraud related to coronavirus support measures and in domestic violence. While violent crimes as a whole were down 2.4%, the number of homicides rose by 3.7%.