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Zurich is the 'fines capital' of Switzerland for 2019

The Local
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Zurich is the 'fines capital' of Switzerland for 2019
Sunset in Zurich West on November 29th. Photo: AFP

Zurich is budgeting on receiving 152 Swiss francs (€135) per person as a result of fines handed out by the city’s police next year.

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That is the highest amount of any city or canton in German-speaking Switzerland, according to research carried out by Swiss weekly Schweiz am Wochenende.

The total amount budgeted for police fines in this part of the country next year is a preliminary 285,673,200 francs, or around 45 francs per person – a similar figure to 2018.

Read also: Driver in Geneva fined for failing to go on green light

After Zurich, the second highest figure is in Baden in the canton of Aargau where preliminary budget projections have city police handing out fines totalling 113 francs per person in 2019.

This is almost twice as high as the 2017 figures with the huge increase based on the planned installation of fixed speed cameras in the canton, according to Schweiz am Wochenende.

At the bottom of the “fines” table is Solothurn, where cantonal police are budgeting for police fines of just 6 francs per person.

In Basel–Stadt, fines are expected to bring in 79 francs per person. In Schwyz, the figure is 44 francs, in St Gallen 43 francs, in Bern 39 francs and in Luzern 19 francs.

Cantonal police in Zurich are budgeting on taking in 17 francs per person in fines next year.

But the president of the Swiss police federation (VSPB), Johanna Bundi Ryser, was critical of the government budget projections.

Fines were designed to change behaviour and not give a boost to government coffers, she told Schweiz am Wochenende.

She said most police would not be influenced by the government budget projections as the number of fines handed out rarely had an impact on performance appraisals.

Read also: 'Rubbish criminal' sentenced to two days in prison

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