Crime rate on the decrease

However, violent crime is on the rise. Despite being a city on the border of Germany and France, and a city canton, the criminal situation in Basle improved in 2000, said Alexander Bertolf, the Head District Attorney and head of a group of crime commissioners, on Wednesday at a meeting with the press. The number of reported incidents of criminal activity sank by 4.1 percent to 23, 505 cases. In comparison with the previous five years, this represents a decrease of 13 percent. In 2000, five people were murdered in Basle, up from three people in 1999. Last year, 15 cases of attempted murder were reported, down by one from 16 in 1999.

(news.ch)