Young burglars in Salzburg: exposed by surveillance camera!

Young burglars in Salzburg: exposed by surveillance camera!

On the night of May 17, 2025, a 16-year-old Serb was surprised during a break-in into a accommodation in Salzburg-Maxglan. The incident occurred around midnight when a 60-year-old hotelier discovered the perpetrator over a surveillance camera and immediately alerted the police. The officials were able to catch the youngsters in the act and found several stolen objects, including credit cards, cash and a key to a safe in which the valuables were located. These had been stolen from the hotel's safe around midnight, and the youthful perpetrator had the right key to the safe.

like 5min.at, the key is supposed to come from a 35-year-old acquaintance of the perpetrator, a Bosnier. Investigations into the origin of the key were initiated, while both, the youthful burglar and his alleged accomplice, were displayed at large.

youth crime in Austria in focus

The incident in Salzburg is in the context of an alarming increase in youth crime in Austria. Interior Minister Karner described the youth crime as a "problem child". According to [news.at] (https://www.nachrichten.at/politik/riminalitasstatistics-statistics-starke-starke- der-der-delikte-bei-bei-be-be-be-be-be-beicht ;arte-Arte-Art ;art385,4042677), the number of advertisements with suspects aged 10 to 14 years have doubled. In 2024, 12,049 ads were registered in this age group. The high proportion of non -Austrian suspect, which is 48% in this age group, is particularly worrying.

In 2023 there was a noticeable increase in the advertisements of Syrian suspects, which rose from 150 in 2020 to around 1,000. Karner also emphasizes that the greatest challenge in combating youth crime are the "system sprinkler" - minor intensive offenders, some of whom commit several dozen crimes per month.

measures to combat crime

In order to counteract the increase in youth offenses, the government proposes a "bundle of measures", which also includes a novella of the home stay law. One of the changes discussed provides for an increase in the threat of punishment for parents of school -age children who stay away from the school, from 400 euros to 2,000 euros.

A total of 534,193 advertisements were recorded in Austria in 2023, which means an increase of 1.2% compared to 2022. The clearance rate was 52.9%, which corresponds to about 280,000 clarified cases. It is also striking that 46.8% of the 335,911 suspected suspects do not come from Austria, which also reinforces the challenges in the field of fighting crime.

The events in Salzburg are therefore not only an isolated case, but part of a major problem that increasingly focuses on the public.