Amsterdam still the most unsafe Dutch municipality; 4 Limburg municipalities in top 10

Amsterdam is still the city in the Netherlands with the highest crime figures, according to newspaper AD's annual crime monitor Misdaadmeter. Neighboring municipality Diemen is catching up to the Dutch capital, moving from the 26th most unsafe municipality in 2017 to the 8th last year. Limburg counts four municipalities in the top 10 least safe, AD reports.

According to the newspaper, crime figures decreased in Amsterdam, but the number of robberies increased by 23 percent. The number of muggings and car thefts also increased. "A point of attention is the increase in the number of robberies, particularly on meal deliverers", a police spokesperson said to the newspaper. In 2017 a total of 17 meal deliverers were robbed in Amsterdam, last year that number increased to 43.

Diemen saw a sharp increase in the number of burglaries last year. According to the newspaper, this can largely be attributed to a gang of Chilean burglars who were active early in 2018. After their arrests, the number of burglaries decreased.

The Limburg municipalities of Sitard-Geleen and Roermond entered the top 10 of least safe municipalities last year, joining Heerlen and Maastricht who were already in the top 10 in 2017. While the total number of crime reports declined in these municipalities, Roermond saw a sharp increase in the number of burglaries, and three of the four saw more robberies. The number of burglaries increased throughout the province of Limburg, against the national trend.

A police spokesperson told AD that Limburg differs from other border areas because of the province's urban character and proximity to neighboring countries, to which criminals can flee. This is shown by, for example, the popularity of car thefts in the province.

Dikkeland is the safest municipality in the Netherlands. The Twente town had one mugging, two car thefts, and no robberies last year.

In its annual rankings, AD looks at the ten crimes that have the most impact on the sense of security in a municipality. These include things like burglaries, car thefts and robberies.