"In the first quarter of this year 48,608 crimes were registered in Moscow, which is 10.3 percent less than during the same period of 2004", Pronin said.
The Moscow police chief links the reduction to the humanization of Russian legislation. "Humanization is on and more and more norms are moved to the sphere of administrative law from criminal, judicial practices are becoming more and more humane", Pronin said.
He also noted that the number of grave offences and felonies subsided by 13 percent to slightly over 15,000.
To Pronin, half of the crimes committed during the period were theft of others' property.
During this time, over 22,000 crimes were exposed and more than 14,500 offenders taken to criminal responsibility.
"Over the 2005 three months 8,135 economic crimes were committed", Pronin said.
"We are observing certain stabilization as regards crimes committed against personality, including murders", he noted. Pronin also said that the Moscow interior board together with the Federal Security Service goes on discovering and terminating acts of terrorism and attendant crimes. "We are discovering more arsenals of weapons and explosives", Pronin reported.
To him, during the 2005 first quarter 715 facts of illegal arms turnover were registered.
