Crime in Bucharest

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Bucharest's crime rate is quite low in comparison to other European capital cities, with the number of total offences declining by 51% between 2000 and 2004^[1]. Violent and organised crime is quite low, with petty crime and institutional corruption being more widespread.

1 Violent and organised crime
2 Petty crime
3 Begging and homelessness
- 3.1 History of begging
- 3.2 Begging today
4 Institutional and financial crimes
5 See also
6 Notes

[edit] Violent and organised crime

Violent crime in Bucharest remains very low, with 24 murders and 1069 other violent offences taking place in 2004^[2]. Although there have been a number of recent police crackdowns on organised crime gangs, such as the Cămătaru clan, organised crime generally has a reduced impact on public life.

[edit] Petty crime

Petty crime, however, is more common, particularly in the form of pickpocketing, which occurs mainly on the city's public transport network. Additionally, confidence tricks such as the Maradona scam are sometimes common, especially in regards to tourists. Levels of crime are higher in the southern districts of the city, particularly in Ferentari, a socially-disadvantaged area mainly inhabited by people of Roma ethnicity.

[edit] Begging and homelessness

[edit] History of begging

In the 18th-19th centuries the beggars were campped in Bucharest near a place called Podul Calicilor (Road of the Poor) and after that behind Romnian Mitropoly and Mircea Vodă Church. The beggars were organised as an institution branch. The head of the branch was called "bishop" (staroste in Romanian). The names of the beggars chiefs were well known: Atinia Surda, Simion Ciungul, Grigore Fulgeratul, Radu Orbul, Lisandru Ologul, Nichita Guşatul, Tudir Gură Stricată, Gavrilă Gură-putinea, Grigore "ce are ceea nevoie" (Istoria Bucurescilor 1899 G. I. Ionescu Gion)

The beggars' Branch was subordinated to the Romanian Orthodox Church by the Ungro-Vlahia Archbishops. In order for someone to practice begging some rules were followed:

Never raise the hand twice, or else this will be considered as theft.
After one gift was received the beggar must go from the church in order let other to make the begging.
No one was allowed to handle his wounds, because this will be considered as fraud.
If a beggar was taken part in a clash then he will be erased from the beggars approved lists.

If someone has been erased from the list then he loses the financial help from the church.

There were rules regarding beggars heritage.
There were also rules regarding theft within the branch. If someone was to be caught then he was beaten in the front of the beggars community and after that exiled.

[edit] Begging today

Although the presence of street children was a problem in Bucharest in the 1990s, their numbers have declined significantly in recent years, currently lying at or below the average of major European capital cities ¹. However, there are still an estimated 1,000 street children in the city Worldwide Street Children statistics, Hilton Foundation/Council of Europe, many of which engage in petty crime and begging. There has also been speculation that the street children are recruited by professional underground networks for criminal purposes. From 2000 onwards, Bucharest has seen an increase in illegal road races which occur mainly at night in the city's outskirts or on industrial sites.

[edit] Institutional and financial crimes

A significant problem in the city remains institutional corruption, which is seen as the most important justice-and-law related problem in the city. While corruption in Romania has declined in recent years due to various government efforts, Bucharest's level of institutional corruption remains somewhat higher than the Romanian average.