Low clear-up rate for police in 1995

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Norwegian police have never investigated as many crimes as they did in 1995. There was a particularly strong increase in the number of thefts and vandalism cases that were investigated. At the same time, the police solved only 23 per cent of the crimes. The clear-up rate hasn't been that low since 1991.

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In 1995, the police carried out investigations of 366,600 crimes. This is an increase of over 50,000 cases compared to 1994, and also exceeds the peak year of 1993 by 27,000. The breakdown of the completed investigations was 269,200 crimes and 97,300 misdemeanors.

Theft was the crime group that had the largest absolute increase from the previous year, with over 30,000 more investigated cases, a 19 per cent hike. The number of investigations involving wilful destruction of property increased significantly, from just under 15,000 in 1994, to more than 21,000 in 1995. The increase in investigated thefts and vandalism cases consequently accounted for 74 per cent of the total increase. The only category to see a decline in investigations was sex crimes, which totalled 2,100 in 1995, down from 2,200 the year before.

New Statistics

Completed investigations of crimes by police, 1995.
Statistics are published every year in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. More information: Frants Gundersen, tel. +47 21 09 45 43, e-mail: fgu@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 46, 1996