Analytics, Corruption, Crime, Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation

The number of crimes in Latvia dropped by 1,400 from 2016 to 44,252 in 2017.

The crime rate rose in some cities and declined in others over the past year. With 488 crimes recorded in 2017, Valmiera was the city with the lowest crime rate last year.

The number of grave crimes in Latvia dropped by 9.6% last year, Kalnmeiers said, describing it as a significant reduction. The number of less serious crimes declined by 1% and the number of criminal offenses was down 12%.

The number of especially grave crimes, however, edged up, from 1,740 in 2016 to 1,752.

Last year, Latvia recorded 2,180 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants, down 47 from 2016.

The number of bribery-related crimes recorded in Latvia last year declined as compared with a year before, Prosecutor General Eriks Kalnmeiers informed.

The cases of graft, bribery and mediation in bribery dropped from 248 in 2016 to 124 in 2017.

Of the bribery-related crimes recorded last year 103 cases were about bribe giving, and the number of such crimes decreased by half from 2016.

Most of these cases were investigated by the Internal Security Bureau which probes cases where motorists attempt to bribe traffic police.

“The number of cases where bribes are offered to traffic police has been declining. There are reasons to believe that bribery in this segment will not increase,” the prosecutor general said, adding that preventive measures have also been taken against attempts to bribe law enforcement officers.