A single asylum centre in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel has had a major impact on local crime rates, according to statistics from last year showing asylum seekers living there disproportionally involved in criminal activity.
The asylum home in Boudry, a town that lies on the coast of the Lac de Neuchâtel, is home to a number of asylum seekers who have been described as prolific criminal offenders.
In 2022, a total of 13,600 criminal offences were committed across the entire canton, with 2,931 in the coastal area along the Lac de Neuchâtel. Of the latter, 48 per cent of the suspects were asylum seekers and 38 per cent were living in the Boudry asylum centre, RTS reports.
Attorney General Pierre Aubert claimed that “97% of the applicants housed in Boudry have nothing to do with the slightest aspect of criminality,” and added, “3% of applicants unbalance the image that we have of asylum.”
According to RTS most of the criminals are from North African countries and many only live in the area for a short time before going to other areas, and have been recorded committing various crimes like shoplifting, theft, and burglary.
Authorities are reacting to the criminality by increasing police presence in the area as well as simplifying judicial procedures to grant immediate convictions. Deportation orders have also been issued, with around 40 deportations carried out last year.
Criminal migrants have been a problem in Neuchâtel for several years and in 2020 local residents told authorities they had seen enough of the rampant criminality, stating that if nothing was done locals would take matters into their own hands.
Dozens of posters were placed around the town of Neuchâtel, the canton’s capital, which stated, “We are proud, organized and angry. We have the capacity to be dangerous for those who disturb social peace so much.”
The posters were largely condemned by local police, with Georges-André Lozouet, communications officer for the Neuchâtel police, calling them unacceptable and saying, “No one can take the place of the police. We are in a democracy and the system is bearing fruit.”
