I could not find the article where it was clearly indicated that PER CAPITA rates of break-ins, robberies and even murders are higher than in Paris and similar to London. I read this article half a year ago, but currently don’t have 3 hours to dig it and really don;t feel like I have to produce the evidence for every word I am saying. If you want to refute it please find the stats for 2009, 2010 and check it. I will be happy if I was mistaken.

But Vienna is not a safe city.

blueorange quotes http://www.viennareview.net/story/03078-criminals-large

“…But the biggest concern for many Austrians is the opening of the borders to the East with the fall of the Iron Curtain two decades ago. Critics of the free borders point to the disproportionate large number of foreigners that are culprits – and use these arguments against the majority of immigrants who themselves are often the victims, living as they do in the more hardscrabble parts of the city.

For Norbert Ceipek, of Drehscheibe Augarten, a crisis center of the Viennese youth welfare office, “the connection is obvious, when you consider the number of foreign culprits.” At the center he works with displaced children and teenagers from Eastern Europe who had been forced into prostitution, and stealing.

“I think of Eastern Europe as Europe’s warehouse. There are people who take all opportunities to get what they want, at all costs,” he explains, insisting however, that it is important not to lump everyone together. “This group is just a minority. Eastern Europeans are also frustrated about the rise in crime as it severely damages the reputation of their countries.”

Dr. Anton Pelinka, professor of political science at the Central European University in Budapest, disagrees, however, about the connection of the crime rate to the opening of Austria’s Eastern borders.

“In this regard I would be very cautious,” he said. “I neither see a contradiction nor a connection. The fact is that with Schengen, new conditions came into force. The borders are now under European control. That’s the same level of control that has formerly been there under the Austrians.”

Instead Professor Pelinka points to “a specific criminal energy in countries like Moldava and Romania” as the cause of the problem.

Whatever the source, the Viennese are worried. A survey carried out by the polling institute IMAS in May and June showed that eight out of ten Austrians have the impression that crime has risen over the last 10 years, and over 60% blame immigration…”

Often economic hardship causes unsavory behavior. Apparently I was not the only one pondering the point, chef and gemm.

Vienna is an incredibly safe city in which to live.

Heck my neighbor’s nurse (whom visits daily) leaves her bicycle outside (unlocked) against the side of the apartment building for the entire three hours she is here, every single day, and has been doing this for two years now.

Yeah, the city has it’s problems, but I’ll walk in any district in Vienna at any time or day or night without fear.

The worst I have encountered (knocks on wood) is when a drunk came up to me and my wife on the Ubahn (2004) and popped me once in the chin for no reason, I grabbed him and he calmed down and we waited for the Police.

Some folks (native born Austrians) like to add a bit to their tales of Heroism, and so they lead foreigners to believe Vienna is sometimes a fierce and hard city, it’s no such thing, not even close, and people don’t need to be afraid here.

ask the police: break-in crimes went through the roof in the past several years, there are a lot of cases of auto theft, mugging of course (in all districts, murders per capita of population are comparable to London and Paris – you just don’t know about them, because it’s not so much in media as in the UK for instance.

But all in all, yeah, it’s a very safe city. DOn’t say you were not warned 😎

Trick is to live in the neighborhood where criminals don’t think there is anything worth while.

Murder rates:

London is roughly the same size as Austria and has 3 times as many annual homicides. Most murders in Austria are boyfriend/girlfriend or relative related homicides.

Geringste Mordrate Europas
95 Prozent aller Morde in Österreich werden aufgeklärt. Bei einem Großteil handelt es sich um sogenannte Beziehungstaten im Familienkreis.

Mit 47 Mordfällen insgesamt hat Österreich laut Bundeskriminalamt die geringste Mordrate Europas. Das war aber nicht immer so. In den 1980er und 1990er Jahren gab es allein in Wien noch um die 50 Morde pro Jahr.

@blueorange wrote:

But all in all, yeah, it’s a very safe city.

Almost exactly a year ago in this very thread you wrote “Vienna is not a safe city.” Wonderful stuff.