PACA comes second in crime rating

According to figures released by the Observatoire de la délinquance (OND), there were 9.5 acts of violence for every 1,000 inhabitants in 2005. That compares to 11.7 in the Ile de France, 7.8 per cent in Nord Pas de Calais and a national average of 6.8 per cent. Although a ranking of second place seems high, the latest figures for vol à la portière (thefts while the driver is in the car - a crime that plagues this region) show a significant drop of 22.4 per cent for the first six months of 2006 compared to the same period last year.

However, yesterday a Swedish man, in his fifties, was a victim of a particularly violent vol à la portière yesterday in Ariane, on the outskirts of Nice, resulting in head injuries and the theft of his bag, containing a large sum of Swedish currency. The region is trying to combat this crime and the police presence on the Promenade des Anglais and on the beaches along the coast has increased significantly for the summer period. We hope the much-needed surveillance will continue once the tourists leave. The advice to tourists and newcomers to the region remains the same: lock the doors of the car at all times when you are in your vehicle. Perpetrators of this type of crime are young men on scooters who tend to strike when cars are stopped at traffic lights.