Domestic murders, burglaries fall in Switzerland

Police secure the town hall for a complex criminal proceeding in canton Thurgau Keystone

Crime fell by 4% in 2016 with marked drops in the number of recorded homicides, burglaries and thefts around Switzerland, the government reported on Monday.

There were 467,731 criminal cases last year, down from 487,611 in 2015, the Swiss Federal Statistical Office said.

More people were trying to kill someone, but fewer carried through with it. Some 45 homicides were carried out, a drop of 21% from the year earlier, but attempted murders rose by 33% to 187.

All of the cantonal police provided figures for reported and recorded cases, the report says. Figures are examined along several lines including gender, sex and nationality.

Burglaries dropped by 11%, down to 47,944 or an average of about 130 per day, according to the annual compendiumExternal link of crime statistics.

Thefts not including stolen cars dropped by 9% down to 146,731 last year.

Eighteen women and one man died of domestic violence in 2016, representing a homicide against a women about every 20 days on average. But those 19 were a steep decrease of 47% from 2015.

The overall number of cases of domestic violence rose by 2% to 17,685 in 2016.