MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has stated that the amount of crime has decreased in Moscow over the last seven years. According to statistics, during this period the number of murders has gone down by 50%, the number of car thefts has dropped by 75% and the number of break-ins has seen a more than three-quarter plunge.

"In the last seven years the number of murders in the city has halved, the number of robberies, sank more than 66%, the number of car thefts plummeted 75%, and the number of home burglaries experienced a more than three-quarter drop. These are substantial figures that are changing and improving the situation in the city," Sobyanin said in his speech at the annual extended city meeting on crime prevention in Moscow.

The mayor stressed that according to Muscovites, just 30% said in 2010 that Moscow is a safe city. Now, two-thirds of the capital’s residents say it is so. "It is very important that the majority of Moscow residents still emphasize that the city has to be safer," the mayor pointed out.

Head of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry in Moscow Oleg Baranov added that the measures taken by law enforcement bodies jointly with Moscow city hall, representatives from public law enforcement organizations and city residents made it possible to enhance the level of security for Muscovites and visitors to the nation’s capital.

"Over the past 10 years, the current year has truly become unparalleled in the number of events which have been unprecedented for Russia: the Russian presidential election, the World Cup and the Moscow mayoral election. More than 26,000 events were held in the city in 2018, involving more than 38 million Moscow residents and visitors to the city," Baranov added.

Cooperation between police and community activists

According to Moscow City Duma (city council) Chairman Alexei Shaposhnikov, the experience of Moscow’s community activists shows that their actions can be effective and should be state-supported.

"Moscow offers an example of effective cooperation between them [police officers and members of public organizations]. Namely, its program dubbed the Safe Capital project, which is managed by State Duma member Inna Svyatenko, who also chairs the security commission. This project includes joint actions and raids carried out by activists working shoulder to shoulder with auxiliary police, the Main Department of Internal Affairs, the Russian National Guard Troops Service, the Russian Emergencies Ministry and public law enforcement stations. The project has 26 fields of activity and involves more than 10,000 people," the city councilman specified.

Shaposhnikov is confident that the joint efforts of state executive bodies, law enforcement agencies and public law enforcement entities will "make it possible to turn Moscow into the safest capital in the world.".