* Interview with Gabriel Mihai Badea, the president of the Romanian Security Services

* "Thieves live better in prison than they do at home"

* "Bank branches have security lapses"

* "Professional thieves have created their own union, they have lawyers"

The number of crimes like burglaries and shoplifting seem to be rising, in the opinion of Gabriel Mihai Badea, the president of the Federation of Security Services (FSS) România, who told us in an interview, that thieves have more expertise and even have modern technology.

"If at a certain time there was lots of talk about Romanian criminals cloning foreigners' credit cards, and these criminals are now starting to come over here", said Mr. Badea. When it comes to burglaries, there has always been an "exchange" for tips. Thieves share experiences and information in prison, where it is said that some of them live better than they live at home.

Reporter: Judging by all the incidents which have been happening lately, it would seem criminality is rising in Romania. Is it true?

Gabriel Badea: It would indeed look like it, but this impression is not necessarily confirmed by statistics. Crimes like burglaries, shoplifting are events that have a direct and powerful impact on people, hence the public perception that things have gotten worse.

Reporter: Very recently, thefts from banks' safe deposit boxes have occurred. How has it come to this?

Gabriel Badea: Thefts from safe deposit boxes have always been a controversial topic. In the case of banks, it seems even more surprising, but it needs to be known that this kind of crimes have also happened in other countries, long before they happened here. When it comes to crime, it would seem that Romania is a bit behind the times. Crimes which had a major impact years ago, namely stealing from ATM machines or from th