Over 12,000 crimes recorded in Erbil in 2021: police directorate ​

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish capital recorded over 12,000 offenses and saw the arrest of more than five thousand people accused of various crimes over the past year, according to annual data obtained by Rudaw on Sunday.

In 2021, Erbil recorded 12,645 crimes with 11,504 offenses settled as “the accused were brought to court in accordance with the laws,” the police directorate said in a statement sent to Rudaw.

Security forces arrested 5,146 suspects in various crimes including “theft, murder, forgery, drugs, shootings, and bandits [banditry],” it added.

Erbil also saw 79 murders and 28 shooting incidents as gun violence continued to take the lives of people across the Kurdistan Region.

Gun violence is high in the Region and the government has struggled to bring gun ownership under control. Firearms, including sniper rifles and machine guns, can be purchased on the black market. An estimated 70 percent of people in the Kurdistan Region own weapons. 

The Region’s parliament in November said it is considering a new law that will impose tighter regulations for obtaining gun licenses to bring gun violence under control. 

Two people were killed in Erbil in November when a fight erupted over a parking spot. Three people were killed and several others injured in an armed clash between two families in the capital’s Harir sub-district in October. The feud led to further deaths.