The crime-rate in Amsterdam is high
The crime-rate in Amsterdam has been ranked and is reportedly the most criminally active municipality in the Netherlands. Attesting to this, there is an interactive map on AD.nl that lists every province in the Netherlands and their corresponding criminal rank. Diemen actually rose from 23rd place to 8th place in 2018. Municipalities with fewer than 5000 inhabitants are not included in the Crime Meter.
What crimes in Amsterdam are recorded?
Amsterdam has had high levels of crime being reported: to gain an impression of the extent of and trend in crime in the Netherlands, two different data sources were consulted by AD.nl, namely victim surveys, and police records.
In Amsterdam, the number of domestic burglaries and reports of pickpocketing decreased. However, the number of robberies rose from 184 in 2017 to 226 in 2018, an increase of 23% (time to wear your backpack reversed). The number of victims of muggings also went up to 1235. These crimes have a greater impact on victims than, say, pickpocketing, and this is the reason why Amsterdam is still number one on the list of the most dangerous municipalities.
Criminal activity in Amsterdam
You brush your teeth, eat your cereal, strap on riot gear. There’s criminal activity in Amsterdam in alarmingly high numbers. Stay safe out there, varying crimes decreased in frequency over the last two years but it’s better to stay safe at night and travel in groups when possible.
Remember that guy that lied down on a grenade in his back yard to stop it from going off? Or the four murdered in Enschede? Diemen has also been very criminally active in recent years, below are the top ten most criminally active municipalities in the Netherlands.
- Amsterdam
- Eindhoven
- Rotterdam
- Heerlen
- Maastricht
- The Hague
- Sittard-Geleen
- Diemen
- Roermond
- Schiedam
Of course, all this crime is relative and Amsterdam is definitely pretty safe in the global scheme of things. Dutch Review has guides on how not to get scammed and other helpful reads to check out.
If you have a crime to report, be sure to check out this document released by the police on the procedures and what to expect. There’s a list of phone numbers, websites, and social media channels you can use to reach out to them.
Do you live in any of the cities on the list? If you want to share with us, let us know your experiences in the comments!