Statements about relative criminality are based on reported crimes. The statistics for Switzerland shown at Table 1 are from: Service de Presse du Ministère Public de la Confederation, Press release dated 29.4.91. Comparisons with Britain are based on statistics for England and Wales published by the Home Office (Statistical Bulletin dated 27.3.91) added to statistics for Scotland published by the Scottish Office (Statistical Bulletin dated May 1991). Calculations of crimes per thousand inhabitants are based on the following populations: England & Wales 51m, Scotland 5.1m, Switzerland 6.6m. Metropolitan areas of Britain excluded from the second calculation are: Greater Manchester, London, Merseyside, Northumbria, South Yorkshire, Strathclyde, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
2.
International comparisons of crime statistics are notoriously difficult due to different reporting behaviour, laws and classification systems. Homicide is probably the easiest to compare statistically; 1990 figures are 214 for Switzerland and 759 for Great Britain giving, respectively, 32.4 and 13.5 per million inhabitants.
3.
LoertscherW., Les Polices Cantonales en Suisse, I.R.L., Lausanne, 1991, p. 46.
4.
LoertscherW., ibid., p. 44.
5.
In Lausanne, the police court called “Commission de Police” has a bench of three, chaired by a police captain.
6.
The five cantons are: Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Basle-City. Source: HaymozJ., Apercu sur l'Organisation de la Police en Suisse, Swiss Police Institute, Neuchatel, 1986, p.2.
7.
The three cantons are Aargau, Fribourg and Geneva. Source: HaymozJ., ibid, p.2.
8.
RaemyP-A., Police de Lausanne de l'An 2000: Perspectives d'Evolution de Son Role Social, de Ses Taches et de Son Organisation, Master's (M.P.A.) Thesis, Lausanne University1991, p.21.
9.
International Criminal Police Organization, 1988, European Police and Judicial Systems. Unpublished Reference Document, Paris. pp. 102–105.
