On April 3, 2024, Police President Ursula Tomahogh, the Head of the Crime Directorate, Criminal Director Robert Gereci, and First Chief Inspector Guido Künemund presented the Hagen police crime statistics for the year 2023.
Overview:
- Hagen halts negative trend
- Development in Hagen contrary to the state trend
- Clear-up rate above average
- Crime level remains high
Crime in Hagen is falling. After a rather negative trend in the aftermath of the pandemic, crime in Hagen reached an overall level of 18,028 crimes in 2023. This corresponds to a decrease of 196 cases or 1.08% compared to the previous year. The crime clearance rate rose significantly from 57.09% to 60.06% and is therefore - as in previous years - well above the national average (54.17%).
"In 2023, we succeeded in halting the negative trend in crime in Hagen. We have also seen a significant increase in the crime clearance rate. These facts make me feel positive and show that we in Hagen have resolutely countered the rise in crime," said Police Commissioner Ursula Tomahogh, introducing the Hagen crime statistics for 2023. "I am pleased that the extremely good work of some of the criminal investigation commissions is bearing fruit. We have also countered the negative trend with an internal restructuring and have established a new organizational unit with the special police services. Together with officers from the riot police, our colleagues have shown a targeted police presence in our problem areas. This work is reflected in the positive development in the number of street crime cases," added the head of the authority. "This approach must now be maintained in order to further reduce the number of cases in Hagen."
Seven homicides were recorded for Hagen in 2023. Six cases were attempted. All cases were solved. In the completed homicide, a man stabbed his wife to death, two other attempted homicides were also relationship offenses, although in both cases it was not the women who were harmed, but the helpers. In two cases, the parties involved used a knife against their opponents after arguments. A serious arson was also upgraded to an attempted homicide. In this case, a tenant had set fire to her apartment after giving notice to quit, thereby deliberately endangering her landlords, who also lived in the building. In another case, an argument between guests at a wedding party spilled out onto the street, where one of the participants got into his car and drove into a group of opponents.
At 765 cases in 2023, violent crime as a whole is unchanged compared to the previous year, but with a greatly improved clearance rate of 79.48% (+7.45%). The offense areas dominating this figure developed unevenly. The number of robberies fell from 242 in 2022 to 174. At this point, the good and successful investigative work of various investigation commissions from previous years has had a lasting effect. In addition, investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department for Juvenile Crime (KK14) succeeded in arresting several young offenders at the beginning of 2023 who had already made appearances throughout Germany for various violent and property crime offenses. In Hagen alone, the (Moroccan) fugitives, who were traveling alone, committed 28 crimes in various combinations. Detention warrants were issued for some of those arrested.
The number of cases of dangerous or grievous bodily harm rose from 479 to 530, however. The offense "knife" reached 112 in 2022 and was used 119 times in 2023. In contrast, simple assault, which is not included in the crime statistics for violent crime, fell from 1,569 to 1,395 cases. As a result, the picture of a steadily decreasing inhibition threshold for violence, which ultimately also results in the use of dangerous tools, is becoming more and more apparent. On the other hand, it is clear that intensive investigative work has put an end to series of robberies and the number of cases has been significantly reduced.
The number of rapes is 52, which is unfortunately also significantly higher than the previous year (38). In most cases, however, the perpetrator and victim knew each other. "Only three of the 52 crimes involved assaults on women who had no previous relationship with the perpetrators. This clearly shows us that the majority of cases are not, as one might think, random acts in which a woman is victimized on her way home at night in a dark park. Rapes usually take place in close social circles. Perpetrators and victims usually know each other," says the head of the Hagen Police Headquarters Crime Directorate, Robert Gereci. On the other hand, we have observed a significant decline (-38 cases) in the offense area of "sexual harassment". In this respect, we are also seeing a significantly higher willingness to use violence in the area of sexual offenses.
In the area of street crime, Hagen recorded a decrease of 208 offenses to 3,370 offenses in 2023 (-5.81%). The cases of pickpocketing (243 cases), bicycle theft (143 cases), theft from motor vehicles (759 cases), damage to motor vehicles (828 cases) and other damage to property in public spaces (582 cases) are clearly outstanding in this area. The figures are therefore largely lower than those of the previous year and are below the long-term average. Looking specifically at the figures for street crime in the so-called concept areas of the Hagen police, there was a decrease of 47 crimes in the area of the main railway station in 2023 compared to the previous year (2022: 289, 2023: 251). For Altenhagen and Wehringhausen, an even sharper decline from 621 offenses in 2022 to 479 offenses in 2023 (decrease of 142 cases) can be seen. "As mentioned at the beginning, the positive development of the figures is clearly linked to the intensification of the police presence in these districts. We want to improve Hagen residents' sense of security and are therefore sticking to our approach in 2024," said Police Commissioner Tomahogh.
Property crime (including fraud) was also down in 2023. 3,656 crimes were recorded for Hagen (-4.49%). Nevertheless, the risk of becoming a victim of fraud remains high. Many of these crimes, which were committed via the internet and only had an impact in Hagen, are not included in these figures as the actual location of the crime remains unknown or is abroad. The number of these offenses has risen from 682 in 2022 to 1,011. It must be assumed that this trend will also be observed in the coming years due to the advancing digitalization in all areas of life.
At the same time, however, there are also positive signs in this context. Crimes against older people, such as the so-called "grandchild trick" or the "fake police officer", are falling sharply in Hagen. While 76 crimes were recorded here in 2022, the total in 2023 was 37. This shows that intensive prevention efforts have had an effect. With the help of a 54-year-old woman from Hagen, officers from Criminal Investigation Department 23 managed to provisionally arrest a suspect in September 2023 following an attempted fraud. On the phone, a stranger pretended to be a police officer and asked her about valuables in her house. The man then asked the 54-year-old woman to withdraw 20,000 euros in cash. The woman recognized the attempted fraud and alerted the police. Accompanied by the officers, she agreed to the stranger's demands over the phone. The police then arrested a man who had driven up in his car to collect the money and confiscated his cell phone. Officers from the Hagen police's Criminal Investigation Department 13, which is responsible for property crimes among other things, also arrested a 36-year-old man last year, who was convicted of at least 96 crimes after a series of over 100 garden shed break-ins became known. Between the beginning of March and the end of July, the man broke into the gazebos on a total of 17 nights and stole power tools and food from them. The 36-year-old was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment at the beginning of 2024.
The rate of juvenile crime rose to 25.43% in 2023 (2022: 23.44%). Juveniles account for the largest proportion of suspects in robberies (60 percent) and shoplifting (45 percent). The rate of youth crime is comparatively low for drug-related crime (18%) and property and counterfeiting offenses (18%).
The proportion of non-German suspects in the total number of crimes was 44% in 2023. There is a particular focus on theft (54%), violent crime (47%) and street crime (45%). At this point, it is essential to take a look at the development of the population structure of the city of Hagen. In 2023, a total of 47,172 (2022: 45,214) people without German citizenship lived in Hagen. This corresponds to 23.9 percent of the total population. It can be assumed that the increase in immigration is related to the rise in the number of cases in the phenomena of property crime and violent crime.