Police are reporting more crimes

The number of complainants in Norway totalled 481,305 in 1997. For the first time businesses and the police were behind more than half of all the reports. From 1993 to 1997 the number of complainants rose by 24 per cent. The number of private individuals who reported a crime has increased by only 11 per cent.

Companies were behind the reports made in nearly 105,000 cases in 1997, and the police reported over 137,000 crimes themselves. Over half of the reports came from others than private persons.

Statistics Norway obtains data from STRASAK, the central police registration system, to compile its statistics on reported offences. The material also contains information about the complainants. Statistics Norway has comparable figures back to 1993, and these are presented here for the first time.

Surge in drugs offences

From 1993 to 1997 the number of reported offences in Norway rose by over 92,000, a 24 per cent increase. The increase was not evenly divided among the various categories of complainants. The increase was the greatest for the police, who accounted for 45 per cent more reports in 1997 than in 1993. For the police, drug crimes increased in particular, from under 14,000 reports in 1993 to nearly 35,000 in 1997. Reports from businesses shot up 33 per cent during the same period. This means that private individuals account for an increasingly smaller percentage of reported crimes, and in 1997, for the first time, less than half of the reports came from private individuals.

New Statistics
Complainants and crime victims reported to the police, 1993-1997.
For a broader presentation of statistics on complainants and crime victims for 1993-1997, see Samfunnsspeilet no. 4/1998. For more information, contact: arnt.even.hustad@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 46 45, or frants.gundersen@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 45 43.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 37, 1998