That’s a German “proverb” [“Traue keiner Statistik, die du nicht selber gefälscht hast.”] attributed to Winston Churchill, though it is in fact Nazi propaganda trying to discredit the statesman, which also explains that there is not just one “normalized” English form of the original but about 100 different versions translated from German to English. Winston Churchill didn’t even say “Lies, damned lies and statistics“, which is also often attributed to him.

From now on, I will try not to trust a single “x said y” reference, if it does not give the concrete occasion.

Anyways, some interesting numbers concerning the crime rate in Germany during the last 20 years can be found here. Overall, there has been a (slight) increase in the last 20 years in the per 100,000 numbers for Germany, but a significant drop in violent crimes. Of course, one should also not forget that credit card crimes essentially didn’t exist (in Germany) 20 years ago.

When you look at the numbers also be aware that up to 1993 they are for West Germany only.

If you can read German, then also have a look at this Telepolis article. I like the observation that the drop in violent crimes could be due to the aging population. Just as the drop of the crime rate in the US is due to the legalization of abortions about 35 years ago.