How many suspects are there in your municipality?

The figures come from an annual analysis released by the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In Leeuwarden, 125 people out of every 10,000 residents was a suspect as of 2018, which places the city at 14^th nationally – that is down from 159 per 10,000 residents in 2017, which placed Leeuwarden in the top five nationwide.

The Leeuwarder Courant cites that fact that the municipality of Leeuwarden recently merged with Leeuwarderdeel, which traditionally has far fewer suspects, as a likely explanation for the decrease. Half a dozen municipalities across the north have merged in recent years, which could therefore influence their numbers changing from one year to the next.

Within Friesland, Leeuwarden’s numbers remain the highest, and Tytsjerksteradiel had the fewest suspects: 52. Delfzijl in Groningen is also among the municipalities with the highest number of suspects: like Leeuwarden, the city had 125 suspects per 10,000 residents in 2018. The municipality with the fewest suspects in Groningen was Bedum with 42. In Drenthe, Assen had the highest number – 100 – and De Wolden only had 38.

The figures also show that across the country, fewer young people – only one in ten – are being named as suspects in crimes and the number of violent crimes has been in decline for the past decade. Eight out of 10 people suspected of a crime were men. Nationally, the municipalities with the most suspects per capita were Rotterdam and The Hague, each of which had 159 suspects per 10,000 residents in 2018.

Photo source: George Hodan/publicdomainpictures.net