Analytics, Crime, Estonia, Legislation

In total, 38,210 criminal offences were entered in the register of criminal procedure in the first nine months of the year – 0.4% more than last year.

Regionally, the crime rate was the highest in the Harju County, the Ida-Viru County, the Lääne-Viru County and the Pärnu County. Among cities, the crime rate was the highest in Tallinn, Pärnu, Narva and in Maardu. The counties with the lowest crime rate were Hiiu County and Saare County.

The number of economic crimes have grown the most drastically in comparison to the previous year – by 92%. “The surge is mostly caused by the growth in crimes that involve smuggling of illegal goods and money laundering,” stated Jako Salla, the counsellor of the crime information and analysis division in the Ministry of Justice.

The discovery of insurance fraud is also growing in comparison to the earlier years. While in 2006 there were 11 of those registered in the first nine months and 19 in 2007, this year the number already reaches 37.

The fall in the number of murders that has lasted for several years has slowed down. “83 intentional killings and murders were registered in nine months – two less than during the same period of time last year and by 12 less than during the same amount of time in 2006,” said Salla.

The crime rate is mostly affected by the number of thefts (16,550), which is similar to the number of registered thefts registered last year (16,606).

Salla stated that economic problems are not yet directly reflected in the number of registered crimes. “The impact of social and economic changes to the phenomenon like crime will be apparent with a slight delay,” he stated, adding that there are signs of a possible growth – for example, the number of thefts has started to grow in Tallinn since June.