Interior Ministry Releases Crime Statistic, Admits Certain Crimes Increased
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, January 31
(TBILISI) --Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has released crime statistics revealing certain crimes have been increased.
Releasing the data was the demand of the opposition and NGOs who believed the ministry “tried to hide” the increase in crime rates.
Previous Interior Minister Giorgi Mgebrishvili refused to publish the data and stated it was not an international standard to monthly publish such data.
Consequently, in 2016 and 2017, there were no detailed crime statistics available.
New Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia vowed that he would allow publishing the data.
In the official statement Interior Ministry said that they were open , transparent and eager to ensure systemic reforms.
The most recent statistics revealed that crimes involving death increased by 11.9 percent compared to 2016; a significant portion of these cases involved charges for inducing an individual to commit suicide.
Crimes involving bodily harm increased by 14.8 percent; the ministry says the increase was due to increased awareness of domestic violence issues, which in turn led to more calls to police.
Human rights and freedoms violations increased by 23.2 percent, in particular - threats of bodily harm or murder. The Interior Ministry commented that this was also a result of increased awareness of domestic violence, which resulted in more threats reported.
Property crimes increased by 8.1 percent compared to 2016, including robbery, swindling and money extortion.
Crimes hindering the enforcement of a court verdict increased by 20.5 percent.
Crimes against public security and order decreased by 19.5 percent, as did drugs by 8.3 percent, traffic violations by 16.4 percent.
The ministry stated that they will release monthly statistics in February and March, after which crime statistics will be released quarterly.
