Moscow police warn burglaries to surge up during May holidays.

MOSCOW, May 1 (Itar-Tass) -- The Moscow police warn that during the
traditional May holidays the number of house burglaries surges up.
"The intensity of burglaries during this period doubles," the chief of
the property protection department at the Moscow police force, Alexander
Blagov, told a news conference this week. He advised the city's residents
to take extra precautious during this period.
"Although the risk of intrusion of into one's home cannot be ruled out
altogether, certain pre-emptive measures may be taken. The windows may be
equipped with steel grids. Steel doors with good locks and alarm systems
may help, too," he said. The police official said that currently 256,000
homes in Moscow were equipped with security alarm systems connected to the
nearest police stations, which constituted a mere nine percent of all
apartments having stationary telephones.
Blagov said that in the first quarter of this year over 2,000 house
burglaries had been registered in Moscow.
The rate has shown no decline to have remained at last year's level.
"The rate of solving such crimes is one of the lowest - approximately
16-19 percent," Blagov said. "Usually the burglar gets rid of the stolen
items as quickly as possible."
"Also it is hard to say which part of Moscow is must vulnerable to
burglaries. According to statistics, in 28 percent of cases the lock is
forced, in 14 percent, the right keys are selected, in 9 percent, the
burglar gets through the balcony, and in one percent of cases, the window
is smashed," Blagov said.

.Moscow's road accident rate worst in Europe.

MOSCOW, May 1 (Itar-Tass) -- Moscow's road accident rate is the worst
in Europe, the chief of the city's transport and communication department,
Vasily Kichedzhi, told the media this week. About 600,000 road accidents
occur in the Russian capital every year, "several times more than in any
other large European city," he said.
"Every day the city sees about 2,000 minor and grave road accidents,
far more than the other European cities, such as London," he said.
Kichedzhi noted a decline in the rate of accidents that result in
fatalities, but at the same time acknowledged that it remained high.
In 2009, in contrast to 2008, there were 14 percent less accidents
that caused fatalities - 746 victims died and 14,300 were injured, he
said. In contrast to this London's road accidents in the same period
claimed 196 lives and over 3,600 people were injured.
Kichedzhi blames the high road accident rate on drivers' rudeness and
bad training.

-0-str