[ZeroGravitas]

Talking of political spin, you can usually tell when someone is trying to twist facts to make them seem more interesting. They combine things that don't really go together and put the worst one first e.g. "violent crimes and robberies".

You might think, no they're talking about "violent crimes" and "violent robberies" yet the police chief is quoted as saying: " When it comes to theft, there are no witnesses, and victims often don’t know when the crime occurred."

So unless these victims are so viciously beaten by muggers that they get amnesia it seems more likely to be non-violent thefts.

If the violent crimes are really that bad then why not present their stats alone?

[maxerickson]

In the US, theft and robbery are classified separately. One of the distinguishing characteristics is that robbery generally involves force or the threat of force to take something.

[jeltz]

Same for in Sweden.

[ZeroGravitas]

Wikipedia says robbery, assault and sexual assault ("contact crimes") together made up 12% of reported crimes in 2003 Sweden. Theft related were 53%.

The article claims that in 2007 Sweden "violent crimes and robberies make up about 75 percent of all crimes reported in Sweden."

I'd say they've conflated theft and robbery in that article, possibly a translation issue, possibly fear mongering.

(edit: and this is backed up by the link to the official stats given elsewhere in the thread by Xylakant which has robbery as less than 1% of reported crimes in 2012)

[vidarh]

That's particularly likely given the quote where the national police chief is quoted as talking about thefts.