Offences and victims reported to the police, 2010

The police and prosecuting authority registered 2.3 per cent less crimes and 2.5 more misdemeanours than in 2009. Compared to the previous year, 10 800 fewer offences for profit and 3 200 fewer damages to property were reported. When population increase is taken into account, the number of offences is the lowest in 16 years (see figure).

Increase in all types of drug offences

In 2010, 45 400 offences of narcotics were reported to the police. Compared to the previous seven-eight years, considerably more offences were filed by the police in the first half of 2009 and in 2010. In 2010 there were 6 100 more drug offences reported than the previous year, and Oslo and Rogaland are the counties with highest increase; 1 900 and 1 400 more offences respectively. Oslo was thus the county with the highest share of drug offences per population.

All types of drug offences against the Penal code and the Act relating to medicinal goods increased from 2008 to 2009. The number of narcotics offences regulated by the Penal Code is at an all time high, but possession of smaller quantities of narcotics, regulated in the Act relating to medicinal goods etc., is still lower than in 2001-2002 (see figure).

Fewer thefts in almost all counties

In 2010, 177 000 offences for profit were reported to the police; 5.8 per cent fewer than the previous year. The total amount of thefts and other offences for profit is nearly back to the low level in 2008. All counties had a decrease, except Sør-Trøndelag with a 9 per cent increase. In numbers, Oslo and Hordaland had the largest decrease; 2 000 and 1 800 respectively fewer reported incidents. In 2010, 29.2 per cent of all reported offences for profit in Norway happened in Oslo.

Fewer larcenies from dwellings

A total of 19 000 simple and aggravated larcenies from houses and holiday houses were reported to the police in 2010. The decrease of simple larcenies from houses and holiday houses continued, by 8 per cent from 2009, and to 5 200 incidents in 2010. The number of aggravated larcenies from houses and holiday houses increased in 2008 and 2009, and consequently broke a long-term decreasing tendency. From 2009 to 2010 there was a new decrease, by more than 19 per cent. The 7 300 aggravated larcenies from houses and holiday houses reported in 2010 are approximately 60 per cent fewer than the yearly numbers in the first half of the 1990s (see figure).

Motor vehicles less exposed to theft

The number of thefts of motor vehicles (10 900) and aggravated larcenies from cars and other means of transport (10 000) are nearly 10 per cent and 9 per cent fewer respectively in 2010 than in 2009. The total number of these types of crimes has halved since 2003 and, in addition, the number of simple larcenies from cars and other means of transport decreased by 15 per cent from 2009 to 2010 (see figure).

Stability in reported violent offences

A total of 25 900 violent offences, of which 7 000 were threats and 18 300 consisted of physical violence, were reported to the police in 2010; approximately the same as the previous three-four years (see figure). When population increase is taken into account, the extent of violent offences reported to the police has remained relatively stable the last 11 years, at about 5.5 per 1 000 population.

The distribution by type of violent crime has, however, changed, and this has particularly been the case in recent years for the different types of physical violence. There has been an increase in both the incidents of assaulting public servants and ill-treatment within family relations. Simultaneously, there has been a decrease in the registered number of assaults and wounding or inflicting bodily harm. The redistribution in registration of types of violent offences seems to continue, subsequent to the new regulations on ill-treatment in family relations (from 2006). During 2010, a total of 2 400 cases of ill-treatment in family relations were reported (see figure).

Great regional variations in reported violence

As in all previous years, Finnmark and Oslo have the most reported violent offences in proportion to population. In 2010, the share was 9.8 and 7.8 violent offences per 1 000 population respectively. Generally, the level of reported violence increases with the size of the population in a municipality. In 2010, the municipalities with 50 000 inhabitants or more (the 13 biggest in Norway) have double the level of reported violence than the least populated municipalities (see figure).

Decrease in damage to property

In total, the number of reported incidents of damage to property increased by 25 per cent from 2004 to 2009. From 2009 to 2010 however, damage to property decreased by 13 per cent; to 21 400 incidents, of which 17 200 are crimes inflicting slight damage and 760 are crimes inflicting serious damage. A quarter of the instances of damage to property happened in Oslo, based on all the incidents reported to the police in the period 2004-2009. The statistics on victims of offences reported to the police indicate that nearly half of all damage to property was committed against enterprises.