Before the elections, the political parties that make up today’s coalition promised to open the borders to illegal migrants. When they came to power, they kept their promise. What followed was an expected and drastic increase in illegal border crossings and an even more expected overcrowding of accommodation facilities. As a result, there has also been a proven increase in crime in Ljubljana. Since the current authorities are responsible for this, they are using the police and the media to distort publicly available data on their behalf. Namely, our reality is not in line with their multicultural fantasies, so they need to lie about it.
The latest police-media episode of this kind recently took place on the news show 24ur, where they summarised the latest idea of the “depoliticised” police. Namely, they claimed that they are not seeing an increase in crime due to migration. This basic assertion, which has been written down for media content creators, is in itself a first-class oxymoron. Illegal border crossings are criminal offences under Article 308 of the Criminal Code and are, therefore, a crime in themselves.
But let us look at some official data first. This year, illegal migration has increased dramatically compared to last year. Last year, the police recorded 24,6060 illegal border crossings. This year alone, by the end of October, 50,622 illegal border crossings had been recorded. The largest number of illegal migrants this year came from Afghanistan, followed by Morocco and Pakistan. Police also arrested twice as many people smugglers as last year. There were 418 such cases recorded.
In the Slovenian capital, the police have recorded a marked increase in crime this year. As a result, they are stepping up surveillance and other activities, as stated in a public announcement on the 22nd of September. Three days before, on the 19th of September, they were even more explicit. For example, the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported that the Ljubljana Police Directorate was aware of the increased security risks associated with the accommodation of migrants in the Vič Asylum Centre. They also had to adapt their operational work to the new reality. Detailed information is available in the table with official data below.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |||||
| Police station | Number of criminal acts | Number of criminal acts | % | Number of criminal acts | % | Number of criminal acts | % | Number of criminal acts | % |
| Bežigrad | 592 | 480 | -18,9 | 441 | -8,1 | 505 | 14,5 | 656 | 29,9 |
| Center | 1323 | 859 | -35,1 | 758 | -11,8 | 1266 | 67,0 | 1727 | 36,4 |
| Moste | 1170 | 1077 | -7,9 | 860 | -20,1 | 971 | 12,9 | 1171 | 20,6 |
| Šiška | 623 | 514 | -17,5 | 455 | -11,5 | 557 | 22,4 | 654 | 17,4 |
| Vič | 767 | 771 | 0,5 | 567 | -26,5 | 618 | 9,0 | 986 | 59,5 |
| Total | 4475 | 3701 | -17,3 | 3081 | -16,8 | 3917 | 27,1 | 5194 | 32,6 |
This year, the predominant crime among all criminal acts is “theft”.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |||||
| Criminal act | Number of criminal acts | Number of criminal acts | % | Number of criminal acts | % | Number of criminal acts | % | Number of criminal acts | % |
| Theft | 4252 | 3528 | -17,0 | 2943 | -16,6 | 3794 | 28,9 | 4997 | 31,7 |
| Grand theft | 132 | 92 | -30,3 | 71 | -22,8 | 60 | -15,5 | 103 | 71,7 |
| Robbery | 77 | 63 | -18,2 | 56 | -11,1 | 40 | -28,6 | 71 | 77,5 |
| Robbery theft | 14 | 18 | 28,6 | 11 | -38,9 | 23 | 109,1 | 23 | 0,0 |
| Total | 4475 | 3701 | -17,3 | 3081 | -16,8 | 3917 | 27,1 | 5194 | 32,6 |
The main point of the recent segment on the show 24ur was that crime in Slovenia today is below the 10-year average. Slovenians should remain calm despite the negative trends. This is misleading reporting that avoids the truth that Ljubljana is experiencing a marked increase in crime. It is propaganda reporting intended to influence public opinion.
A noticeably less safe capital
The contradictory communication between the media and the police has also been noticed by political commentator Mitja Iršič. “Police, could you explain this discrepancy in the communication? In September, you said that migration is a security risk. Now, you say that it is not true that we are seeing an increase in crime because of migration. How do you comment on the number of per capita rapes by migrants and by Slovenians?” he wrote on the social network X.
Slovenian citizens are an easy target
What is particularly misleading is the claim that most crimes are still the fault of Slovenian citizens. This is a natural consequence of the fact that Slovenian citizens make up the majority of the population in the capital (for now!). Also, in the last 24ur article, holders of Slovenian passports were implicitly labelled as more dangerous than foreigners. This is, of course, a claim that misses the point of the problem. Why? We will illustrate it with the example of the crime of rape.
This is the official data. This year, 32 crimes of rape and sexual violence were reported in Ljubljana. Of these, 22 suspects were Slovenian citizens, and the rest were foreigners. Six were from countries such as Algeria and Morocco, and 4 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo.
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Citizenship | Number of suspects | Number of suspects | Number of suspects | Number of suspects | Number of suspects | Number of suspects | Number of suspects |
| The Republic of Slovenia | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 11 |
| Third Countries | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | |
| Countries of the European Union | 1 | ||||||
| Total | 8 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 18 |
To implicitly label Slovenian citizens as more violent or more responsible for the rise in rapes is hypocritical and misleading. There are many more Slovenian citizens in Ljubljana than foreigners. Consequently, by the nature of things, they commit more rapes. The data only begin to reveal the truth when we take into account that a much smaller number of foreigners commit a disproportionately large number of sexual offences.
It is precisely this revelation that is extremely politically sensitive for the current government and the left-wing political option as such. It reveals who is the primary culprit behind the rise in migrant crime. Those who have been opening the door to Slovenia wide to newcomers who could never have come to our country through legal channels. And the doors are still open. Rape and theft are apparently negligible collateral damage for the authorities in the creation of a new Slovenian society.
Ž. K.
