DUBAI: A crime is committed every 26 minutes and a fraudulent check is issued every 46 seconds in Sharjah, according to statistics released by the emirate’s police.
The statistics for the year 2008 also revealed a rise in the number of crimes that are of concern, including drug and rape cases, in addition to car thefts and breaking into stores. According to the statistics, the total number of crimes registered in Sharjah last year was 21,870, an increase of 2,327 crimes over the year 2007.
About 11.9 percent of the crimes (16,695 registered cases) were financial related.
At the same time, the statistics showed that there was one traffic accident with injuries for every 991 people and 22 deaths for every 100,000 people, or one death every 48 hours.
The police, however, were quick to point out that despite the slight increase in the crime rate, the security situation of the emirate was stable and under control. The reason was that the rise in the crime rate is low compared to the increase in the population.
At the same time the statistics revealed a decrease in some crimes. These include violating residency laws, which fell by 66.5 percent and kidnap cases fell by 33.3 percent. Alcohol-related crimes fell by 1.1 percent.
There were 2,680 crimes committed per every 100,000 residents, which translates into one criminal for every 37 people.
The statistics showed that financial crimes increased by 19.1 percent last year, drug-related crimes by 57.5 percent, bounced checks by 39.3 percent, car thefts by 14.5 percent, thefts in homes by 10.3 percent and forgery by 72.3 percent.
Asians committed up to 52.7 percent of the total crimes and Arabs from non-GCC countries 28.4 percent.
Emiratis constituted 12.1 percent of the criminals and other GCC nationals 1.1 percent.
