Burglars increasingly ignore Baarn, after the village has been destroyed for years was ravaged by burglaries. The number of burglaries has fallen by 50 percent in the last six months.
In the past six months, there have been 22 burglaries, while in the same period a home has been visited by burglars 44 times. In recent years Baarn had quite a reputation for burglaries in houses, compared to the rest of the Amersfoort region.
It is also striking that the nuisance caused by young people has decreased by 37 percent. In the first half of 2020 there were still 96 reports and the year after that 86, in the last half year the number rose to 54.
Not all figures showed a downward trend. For example, the number of vandalism cases increased to 56, compared to 21 in the first half of last year. The increase in the number of reports of confused persons – from 69 to 117 – is partly due to the more frequent reports from the same address. According to Baarn, this has to do with increased waiting times for assistance, which means that people report more often.
The number of reports of domestic violence also increased from 4 to 10 cases. The municipality believes that this is due to the awareness campaign ‘Stop domestic violence’. Victims report earlier.
In total, in the first six months of 2022, the number of registered crimes in Baarn decreased by 9 percent compared to 2021. While the number of crimes in the Central Netherlands police region increased by 3 percent.
Mayor Mark Röell is positive about the downward trend. “Extra efforts have been made to arrest perpetrators of domestic burglaries. We have also tackled young people who cause nuisance more firmly, for example when countering nuisance in the Peking Garden. We have personally addressed young people and their parents or carers,” says Röell.