Referring to survey figures from the Central Statistical Office, Bucsek said that the ratio of Budapest residents who felt safe in the city had also increased by 14 percentage points, to 79 percent. He said that police officers were now patrolling streets around the clock, and if alerted, the police would arrive at a crime site in 14 minutes on average.

Concerning serious crimes, the police chief said that cases of homicide had increased from 33 to 44, but added that the efficiency of investigations had also increased from 80 percent to 93.5 percent. He added that in cases of homicide, causing bodily injury or rowdy conduct in public the police aimed at finding perpetrators in each case.

Bucsek said that the number of stolen cars had decreased from 1,859 to 1,187, and 21 percentage point fewer burglaries had been committed. The number of robberies was down by 27 percent and that of mugging cases by 20 percent, he added.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.