The lockdown due to the State of Alarm in Spain has been in effect since mid March and this week, crime statistics for the first quarter of 2020 were revealed to have been directly impacted by the situation. The Interior Ministry revealed that on the whole, criminal offences are down by an average of 12.3% – although some specific crimes have seen an increase rather than a drop.
In the Alicante province in the first three months of the year, there were five homicides in comparison to just two for the same period of time in 2019 – an increase of 150%. Sexual assaults are down by 18.3% in general but rape has risen by 35%.
Crimes of opportunity have seen the most significant drop in figures, such as vehicle theft which is down by 20.9%. Drug crimes were up by 7.7% but it is thought that the increase in this figure is down to more police presence and more stop and searches rather than an increase in drug use itself.
The government’s crime report also includes an overview of statistics from municipalities in the Alicante Province with more than 30,000 registered inhabitants. These figures show that the largest decrease in crime was seen in Villena with a drop of 26%. Next is Elche with a drop of 22.2% followed by Benidorm and Denia with a decrease of 22% and 13.3% respectively.
Alicante itself saw crime decrease by 13.2% and Santa Pola is down 9.6% compared to the same three months last year.
In contrast, Petrer leads the field in terms of an increase in crime with a rise of 16.1%. This is followed by Elda (5,% increase), Torrevieja (+ 4.2%), La Vila Joiosa (+ 3%) and Orihuela (+ 2.6%).