Overview
- Regional police warn of increased pickpocketing at Christmas markets, city centers, stations and supermarkets, highlighting crowded entrances, stalls and public transport as hotspots.
- Germany recorded about 107,720 pickpocketing cases in 2024 with a clearance rate near seven percent, underscoring the challenge of investigating mobile, team-based offenders.
- In Kempten, a 40-year-old municipal employee and his wife are in custody on suspicion of stealing more than one million euros from parking machines in 720 cases, as the mayor launches an internal review commission.
- Investigators in North Hesse are hunting two suspects after a string of snack‑vending machine explosions causing roughly €50,000 in damage, with CCTV capturing clothing details and witnesses noting a dark VW Golf.
- Police urge visitors to carry minimal cash, keep valuables in secured inner pockets, and, after any theft, block cards via 116116 and report immediately via 110.