These are the six of the thirteen high-impact crimes that continue to rise in Bogotá

Security has been one of the problems that most worries the people of the capital. The figures presented by the Secretary of Security show that despite the efforts of the authorities to combat crime, six of the thirteen crimes, called high impact, continue to register high figures, even exceeding those of 2021.

In this regard, the two crimes that demonstrate the greatest increase from year to year continue to be personal theft and personal injury, which have been shown to be related. In the case of the former, it increased 16.8%, that is, in the first quarter of 2022 there were 27,205 cases, which means an increase of 3,915 from year to year; and if you look at the last 12 years, according to El Tiempo, it is the second year with the most crimes of this type, only surpassed by 2019, where 29,765 cases were recorded. On the other hand, in terms of personal injuries, there was an increase of 10.4% from 2021 to 2022, from 5,216 to 5,757 cases.

The other crimes that have increased significantly in 2022 are: motorcycle theft that grew by 7.7%, cell phone theft that so far recorded 14,469 complaints so far this year, equivalent to an increase of 5.9%; car theft that increased by 7.2%; and finally sexual crimes, which reported a increase of 1.2 per cent.

For its part, the local government indicates that the necessary measures continue to be taken to be able to deal with the crime that has been plaguing the capital in the last two years and that there is no respite: “There are more than 350 police officers of different specialties, with the capacity for faster and more forceful action against the robbery, strengthening the work of criminal investigation and intelligence, with the interconnection of surveillance cameras and the technological support of a state-of-the-art drone, in addition to the permanent support of the Police,” noted the Secretary of Security, Aníbal Fernández de Soto.

The increase in insecurity and the number of crimes in the country's capital is reflected in the perception of citizens. For example, in the most recent Bogotá Chamber of Commerce's Perception and Victimization Survey (EPV), which reveals the data for 2021, it was evident that Bogotá has experienced the highest perception of insecurity in recent years, standing at 88%. In 2019, 44% of citizens considered their neighborhood safe, by 2021 it decreased and stood at 30%.

In addition, among the main results, there was an increase of 5 percentage points in citizens who were victims of crime, from 15% in 2019 to 20% in 2021. There was an increase in the rating between poor and very poor in the number of calls to 123, which went from 36% in 2019 to 43% in 2021. The rating of the Police service also decreased from 32% in 2019 to 30% in 2021 as excellent and good.

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