Criminal activity in 2013 saw the largest year-on-year increase since 1998, an annual review of reported crime shows.

Crime jumped by almost 13 per cent between 2012 and 2013, maintaining the consistent increase experienced over the past five years.

The figures compiled by researcher Saviour Formosa, a criminologist, showed that damage to private property was the principal criminal activity that contributed to the increase.

Reported damages shot up to more than 4,600 cases last year from 2,600 in 2012.

Cases of theft decreased for the first time in four years but fraud was on the increase.

Dr Formosa noted that fraud averaged two cases a day in 2013, up from one case a day the previous year. Computer-related crime was also on the increase, which the researcher put down to higher victim awareness on the need to report such incidents and “the ever ambitious offenders trying new tools”.

Domestic violence maintained the same stable trend witnessed over the previous two years with just over 1,000 cases reported in 2013.

Prostitution cases dropped by half in 2013 while bodily harm averaged at three incidents per day, which was consistent with the trend experienced over the past nine years.

Of particular note is the crime of violence against public officers, which increased to 262 reported cases in 2013 from 230 a year before, which represents a 14 per cent jump.

But significantly the figures show that violence against public officers practically doubled in a decade.

The in-depth review also showed that St Julian’s remained top of the league as crime capital with a rate five times the national level. The locality covers the Paceville area, which every weekend hosts thousands of young party-goers.

In second place is Cospicua with a crime rate that ranges between two and five times the national rate.

Dr Formosa noted that for the first time since 1998 St Paul’s Bay moved down a risk category, becoming a safer place in terms of reported crimes. Homing in on theft from residences, the figures showed that houses in St Julian’s, Swieqi, Pembroke and Msida were between two and five times the national risk rate of being burgled.

On the opposite end, Għasri, San Lawrenz, Mdina and Fontana registered no residential thefts in 2013.

Floriana was the locality that topped the league table for car theft with a rate five times higher than the national average. Second in line were St Julian’s and Gudja with a risk of between two and five times the national rate. Għasri, Kerċem and Fontana had zero vehicle related offences.

Dr Formosa’s analysis also focussed on the prison population, which he said went “beyond the psychological threshold”.

Although he acknowledged the changes that started being implemented in the prison regime with the introduction of parole and other administrative measures, Dr Formosa said only time would tell whether the new structure will bear fruit.

Dr Formosa said the Corradino Correctional Facility had a psychology capacity threshold of 600 inmates, which was exceeded at the end of September 2012. The prison currently had a population of more than 620 inmates.

Dr Formosa, through his institute Crime Malta, has been studying crime patterns for the past decade. He has analysed the more than 155,000 reported crimes between 2004 and 2013.

In numbers

155,175: Crimes reported between 2004 and 2013

90,436: Theft cases between 2004 and 2013

28,333: Damage to private property cases between 2004 and 2013

10,521: Bodily harm incidents reported between 2004 and 2013

208: Drug-related crimes in 2013

6: Abandonment of children and infanticide cases in 2013

50: The percentage of crime believed to go unreported

* Source: Crime Malta

ksansone@timesofmalta.com