Feelings and figures: How police reports shape our sense of security

What crime actually happens every day in Luxembourg? Where are the police more active: Thefts? Burglaries? Drug-related crime? Most of us probably wouldn't be able to pull the statistics from the police's annual report out of a hat. Instead, we get insights from brief reports in the press, on the radio or the news app: "The police report a theft", "According to the police report, a drug dealer was caught at the railway station", "The police report burglaries in XY".

The press itself receives this information from the "Bulletin de presse", which is often sent to the country's editorial offices several times a day. In it, the police press office reports on its activities, sometimes in detail, sometimes briefly, sometimes in German, sometimes in French. The aim of the bulletin, says Frank Stoltz, Director of Police Communications, in an interview, is to "communicate absolutely openly and transparently to the outside world". Nevertheless, despite the large number of emails – 386 with around three to six messages each landed in the Journal inbox in 2024 alone – not everything can be mentioned. By way of comparison, a total of 52,839 offences against persons and property were recorded in the police's annual report in 2024. That would be almost 145 reports per day, and there simply isn't enough space for that.