Police chief counters that crime rate is lower this summer than it was last year.
TIRANA, Aug. 12 – The main opposition Democratic Party has accused the Socialist-led government of failing to deal with an increasing crime rate, saying authorities have been unable to properly fight crime.
Democratic lawmaker Arben Ristani, a former deputy interior minister, said Monday that a number of recent murders showed the government has failed to properly deal with growing crime rates.
He added that reforms implemented by the Socialist-led government since it took power last September have led to “the destruction of the police force,” referring to the replacement of top police officers in recent months.
Ristani was referring to recent murders in Vlora, Shkodra and Tropoja to make his case.
Reacting in a press conference the next day, Albania’s police chief, Artan Didi, said the crime rate fits a pattern established for many years – and it increases when Albanian immigrants return home for the summer holidays.
Didi showed data in a press conference to indicate that the crime rate had fallen compared to the same period last year when the Democrats were in power and Ristani was a deputy interior minister.
Didi said that the police operations in the last months have cause “unrepairable damage” to the criminal world, but acknowledged that more remains to be done. He added authorities had been able to take hundreds of millions of euros away from criminals.
