Baden-Württemberg: Increasing number of crimes around churches expected

Here a smashed church window, there destroyed interior in the church or a stolen statue from the cemetery: criminals cause damage again and again.

Baden-Württemberg: Increasing number of crimes around churches expected

Here a smashed church window, there destroyed interior in the church or a stolen statue from the cemetery: criminals cause damage again and again. The AfD parliamentary group in Baden-Württemberg wanted to know more about it and asked the Ministry of the Interior.

Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - After the number of crimes related to churches and church institutions fell by almost a fifth in 2021, the Ministry of the Interior expects an increase again in the past year. According to the first figures, there are also indications of a decline in the detection rate, which was still 30.4 percent in 2021, writes Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) in an answer to a request from the state parliament AfD. The dates for 2022 are not yet final. The year before, 1035 crimes were registered in the context.

The police crime statistics also record a whole range of crimes at crime scenes such as churches, cathedrals, chapels, monasteries and "other church institutions": from property damage, with a recent share of 41.6 percent, to theft (36.9 percent) and sexual offenses Abuse (0.3 percent). At 75.0 percent, German nationals made up the largest proportion of suspects, followed by Romanians at 4.6 percent.

With regard to cemeteries, there are signs of an increase in the number of cases of theft, for example of gravestones and works of art in cemeteries, for the year 2022, while there are signs of a decrease in the number of thefts of sacred works of art, as the ministry said in response to another application by the AfD writes.

In the application, AfD MPs wanted to know, among other things, in how many cases anti-Christianity was a motive. For the first nine months of last year, the ministry's response lists four crimes "aimed at the church" that were motivated by anti-Christian sentiment. Otherwise, it indicates that, based on the statistics, nothing can be said about whether an act happened intentionally or accidentally, for example in a church.

The State Criminal Police Office and the local police regularly assess how endangered religious institutions are. For Christian churches, there is currently no risk-relevant knowledge, it is said. However, the bureaus offer advice on prevention, which also includes structural, technical and electronic security measures as well as security concepts to protect against theft.