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Date Published: 17/08/2022

ARCHIVED - San Javier, Murcia, Mazarron and Aguilas have the highest crime rates in the Region

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Law-breaking has risen 22.6% in the first half of the year in the Region of Murcia

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - San Javier, Murcia, Mazarron and Aguilas have the highest crime rates in the Region

Between January and June of this year, as many as 32,813 criminal offences and misdemeanours were reported in the Region, that’s 182 every day, and the municipalities of San Javier, Murcia, Mazarrón and Águilas have been dealt the dubious honour of having the highest crime rates of the entire community.

According to the State Security Corps, law-breaking has increased by 22.6% compared to the same period last year but this is still below the national average in Spain of 25.7%.

The restrictions that the pandemic brought in 2021 marked the lowest crime figures in recent times but, with the return of normality, infractions also began to rebound, even surpassing the data that was handled before the outbreak of Covid.

Looking at towns and cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants, San Javier this year has reported 30.35 crimes per thousand residents, a dramatic upswing of 20.7% thanks to an increase particularly in home burglaries and shop robberies. Coming in at a close second is Murcia, with a total of 11,713 criminal offences in the first half of 2022.

Heading to the coast and Mazarrón takes the third spot on the podium with 25.25 offences per thousand inhabitants, followed by Águilas (25 crimes per 1,000) and San Pedro del Pinatar (24.85).

With much more conservative crime figures, the last positions on this list are occupied by towns such as Lorca -14.61 crimes per thousand inhabitants- and Yecla, with 13.54. According to the report, Cartagena is practically in the middle of this ranking -with 20.53-, despite the fact that in the last year crime in its streets increased by 24.6%.

The main spikes in offences in the last year occurred, according to the Ministry's analysis, in Caravaca de la Cruz, San Pedro del Pinatar and Molina del Segura, with growth of 40.9%, 35.4% and 30, 4%, respectively.

Image: Guardia Civil

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