Property crimes most prevalent in Georgia

Crimes against property is the most commonly reported crime in Georgia, followed by drug-related offences and crimes against health, reveals statistics released today by official sources.

Data by Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and published by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) noted 8,970 crimes were recorded in the first quarter of 2015 in Georgia, of which 256 cases were against a person’s life.

Between January 1 and March 31, 2015, there were 3,206 crimes against property in Georgia, 1,272 drug-related offences and 1,107 crimes against health - these were the three biggest groups in terms of reported crimes.

Transport crime was reasonably prevalent in Georgia, with 915 recorded crimes in the first three months of 2015.

There were 828 crimes against normal functioning of the Government and 445 crimes against public security and order.

About 110 Malfeasance crimes (resulting in the injury of another person) were registered in Georgia in the first three months of 2015.

Crimes that were less frequently recorded were crimes against human rights and freedoms (35 cases) and against the family and minors (5 cases).

About 786 reported crimes were not specified.

In the same three months, 3,019 people were victims of crime - 2,927 were Georgian citizens, 87 were foreigners, four victims had dual citizenship and one victim’s details were not specified.

Statistics showed that in most cases, victims were male. Specifically in Q1 2015 there were 1,839 male victims and 1,180 female victims of crime.

The majority of victims of crime were aged between 25 and 44 – in this age category there were 1,392 victims of crime in Q1 2015. Similarly, about 1,060 victims were older than 44; 462 victims were between 17 and 24 years old; and 103 victims were less than 17 years old.

Meanwhile, Geostat also published the Ministry’s data about the number of fires registered in Georgia in Q1 2015, and annually.

In the first quarter of this year there were 3,208 fires registered in Georgia, said Geostat. Of these cases, 21 people had died and 42 were injured. Furthermore, 117 buildings and structures had been destroyed by fire and 91 domestic animals had been killed as a result of fire.

Annual figures showed the number of fires in Georgia had slowly increased in recent years, resulting in 2014 showing a record number of fires since 2001.

In 2014 there were 11,040 fires, while in 2013 this figure was 9,025. In 2012 there were 10,086 fires and in 2011 there were 8,160 fires.

Between 2003 and 2012 the number of fires ranged between 4,418 and 10,006. While in 2002 the least number of fires (4,159) was recorded.