Paris Crime Rate Rises

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31880, 7 January 1969, Page 16

Paris Crime Rate Rises

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter —Copyright) PARIS.

An over-worked and under-staffed police force is keeping an anxious eye on the number of bagsnatches in Par is—an indication of the city’s rising crime rate.

It is part of a reappraisal of the whole system of crime prevention after a big rise in crime during the last year. New gangs of criminals have appeared and seem to be doing their apprenticeship by holding-up suburban banks and post offices, where security systems are sometimes non-existent. The police say the new members of the underworld are mainly young delinquents who have recently graduated from a well-established school which begins with pilfering: from grocers’ chops and from, parked cars. They quickly: move on to bag-snatching, j

Police have announced that 351 such thefts took place in. Paris during the first six months of last year and they: say figures for the last half of the year will be even more alarming. “Later, if he does not have a brush with the police, two paths open up to the young

i criminal,” a police superinItendent, Roger Le Taillaner, :said recently. “He specialises jin house-breaking or chooses the dangerous but lucrative branch of armed robbery.” Statistics show a rise in armed attacks of 60 per cent, to 2117, in the first 11 months of last year, including 48 armed hold-ups. A police officer in the large suburban area has pointed out that hold-ups in outlying areas are extremely tempting and can be very profitable.

“Small suburban banks and post offices have only one or two employees, often women, and the premises are without alarm systems, making it tempting for apprentice gangsters,” he said.

The police officer gave as an example the young man who went into a bank and waved a plastic toy gun. “He just said, ‘this is a hold-up’ and walked out with the till,” he said. Faced with the crime wave, police have seen their strength whittled away. With no recruitment for 18 months and as many as 15 retirements a month, the effective strength of the police has decreased by 300 men in the last five years, while the population has increased by 821,000.

Some suburban police superintendents have only one car at their disposal, to be used for inquiries by day, and patrolling at night.