Among the Criminal Asylum-Seekers

The following news video from Swiss TV describes the increase in violent crime that has accompanied a large increase in the number of asylum-seekers in Switzerland. Predatory criminal gangs of North African origins — some armed with bazookas — have become part of the landscape in some cantons.

Many thanks to Hermes for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:


Below is the accompanying article from Tagesschau, also translated by Hermes:

Special police units against criminal immigrants

The number of asylum seekers increased more in 2011 than it has in the past nine years. Criminality also increased. Various cantons have therefore taken measures.

The increase of asylum-seekers was 45% in 2011 — a total of 22,551 persons, primarily from North Africa, sought asylum in Switzerland. The numbers in countries with a makeup similar to Switzerland’s are considerably lower. In The Netherlands the number was 11,500 last year, in Norway 7,500.

The cantons have responded to this increase with special police units. In the canton of Geneva, for example, an anti-criminal brigade was created because theft increased by a third in the inner city.

Armed with bazookas

However, the president of the cantonal justice system and police directors says to Tagesschau that these special units are not enough. The length of the asylum procedure, which now lasts for four years, should also be shortened.

According to observations from Juerg Noth, the chief of Switzerland’s frontier surveillance commandos, as reported in the Sunday issue of NZZ, cross-border criminality has also added (to the problem). The perpetrators are mainly French with a North African immigrant background. The gangs are loosely organized and always act “aggressively and with no consideration at all”. They use assault weapons, submachine guns and bazookas.

Transcript of the video:

00:01		The Geneva canton. The anti-criminal brigade created one month ago is
00:06		the answer to the rising number of criminal cases, mainly in the town centre where
00:11		thefts have increased by a third. Those involved in these criminal acts
00:16		are in most cases immigrants.
00:20		'The goal is to prevent crime in the streets. We have concentrated on the inner
00:25		town, and also conducted operations outside. We are present also in trams,
00:30		because thefts had increased in them. The presence of our brigades
00:35		was able to stop robberies.'
00:38		In spite of this, only a small number of thieves can be identified.
00:43		The lack of papers makes it harder to catch criminal
00:48		asylum-seekers.
00:51		Hans Juerg Kaeser, chief police and director of justice, knows the problems
00:56		the cantons have regarding criminal asylum-seekers. But special
01:00		units are not enough to bring the situation under control.
01:04		'This element - that one can now bring small-time criminals under
01:09		surveillance, and eventually catch them when needed - this is an element
01:14		which one can see, but this is not the answer to the impotence
01:18		which is felt here continuously.'
01:21		The main problem for the cantonal police directors are the
01:25		extremely long asylum procedures. They are in average four years
01:29		long. We could take the example of The Netherlands.
01:32		'In that country 70% of procedures are processed
01:37		and decided upon in eight days, and we must really make a
01:42		big step in this direction here in our country.
01:47		In order to accelerate asylum procedures, specific
01:50		measures are to be on hand until summer. Even if Switzerland
01:53		is politically more complex than The Netherlands.

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