Following an article earlier this week about offences against property and people, the second of two articles on 2019 crime figures for Luxembourg from the Grand Ducal Police addresses burglaries and the fight against narcotics.

Burglaries

For burglaries, the police distinguishes between burglaries in inhabited houses (houses, apartments, cellars) and burglaries in uninhabited houses (shops, businesses, restaurants, construction huts, etc.).

The vast majority of burglaries involve inhabited houses. Here, a positive trend can be seen, with a decrease of more than 7% from 2018 to 2019 (from 2,044 from 2,142, i.e. almost 6/day over the entire year). Burglaries in uninhabited houses saw a slight increase of 1.59% over the same period after a sharp drop in the previous period.

Generally, burglaries in inhabited houses tend to take place in urban areas, near major roads and near international borders. Burglaries most often occur on Fridays and Saturdays and in the early evening. Traditionally, the months that see the most burglaries are the beginning of summer as well as the winter months, which are particularly attractive to burglars due to the early evenings. However, in 2019, there was no pronounced peak in early summer, unlike in other years.

All these figures relate, almost exclusively, to “classic” burglaries in which the perpetrators entered by a door, a window or through a balcony without the inhabitants having been targeted. The number of Homejackings cases (robberies with violence or threats in inhabited houses) is very low compared to the total number of burglaries: In 2019, there were 5 Homejackings in inhabited houses across the Grand Duchy.

The Grand Ducal Police have confirmed that the fight against burglaries is one of their priorities. It is on the basis of their daily analysis of the most recent developments that preventive and repressive measures are put in place.

It is important to know that in principle, a burglar does not seek confrontation with the inhabitant and flees when he notices that the latter has seen him. However, if the resident notices that a burglary is in progress, it is not advisable to confront the burglar directly. Rather, immediately alert the Police through the emergency number, tel: 113, and signal to the burglar that he has not gone unnoticed, for example by making noise, shouting or switching on the lights.

The fight against narcotics

The fight against narcotics is another major priority in the work of the Grand Ducal Police who were particularly active in this area in 2019. The number of cases increased significantly in 2019 compared to 2018; this was particularly in regard to ownership (+35%) and use (+51%), as well as trafficking (+21). The number of cases where narcotics were seized/confiscated, in cooperation with the Customs and Excise Administration, was 1,412 for 2019, while arrests were slightly down on 2018.

From prevention through presence on the ground to judicial investigation, all police units are involved and concerned by the fight against narcotics, whether in the context of preventive patrols, the search for information or even during large-scale inspections. However, the Police are not the only actor engaged in this context. It works in close cooperation with the judicial authorities and the Customs and Excise Administration. Together, more than 359,000 grams of cannabis, 6,400 grams of heroin, 1,747 grams of cocaine, 50,997 ecstasy pills and 57 grams of amphetamines were seized last year.