In accordance Justice Ministry figures, investigation bodies and the Prosecutor's Office last year registered 41,006 crimes, four percent fewer than in 2011.
Number or crimes registered in Estonia down 4 pct last year
29th January 2013, 20:06
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Justice Minister Hanno Pevkur said that the fall in the level of crime could be be regarded as a normal phenomenon in Estonia. "The high level of crime that characterized Estonia in 1990s and only ten years ago would be unthinkable today. For example the number of cases of manslaughter and murder has fallen by nearly threefold and that of crimes against property by nearly double. But at the same time I do not want to be too positive as there is still too much crime in Estonia and a lot of work still has to be done," Pevkur said.
As the most important indicator the minister quoted the fall of violent deaths to the lowest level of the period since the restoration of independence. "If in 2003 148 people lost their lives due to violent attacks and 65 in the year before last, then in the year before in accordance with preliminary figures number was 57.
It has to be pointed out that as before murder and manslaughter cases are still connected with excessive consumption of alcohol either among acquaintances or the family, where a row rising from nothing becomes and tragedy for all the parties. Although the number of cases of murder and manslaughter is record low, it is not possible to be satisfied with it, as the number of murder and manslaughter cases should fall to a half to arrive at the European average level," Pevkur said.
Among the lighter violent crimes, the number of cases of grievous bodily harm has risen by 11 percent from 4,785 to 5,328 cases. Commenting on the growth in the number or cases of grievous bodily harm, the justice minister said that growth in these crimes was mainly noticable in the North Prefecture or in Harju County. Without taking into consideration growth in Harju County, which amounted to 27 percent, the number of these crimes would have contracted," the minister said.
Prosecutor General Norman Aas said that the investigating bodies and the prosecutor's office continued to pay a lot of attention to the discovery of organized and grave crimes, as well as sexual crimes committed against minors. The number of cases of organized and drug-related crimes brought to justice has considerably risen," Aas said.
In terms of anti-property crimes there was a fall to 18,734 crimes, down 7 percent, while the number of robberies fell 13 percent to 458 crimes. Cases of fraud remained at close to the 2011 year level with 3,731 cases of fraud registered, down two percent. "It is pleasant that the number of crimes against property is falling but we have to bear in mind that a large number of victims of crimes against property do not still report the crime to the police. I here want to say that it would not be very responsible to say that the police catches all the thieves, but there are still thousands of cases of theft and robbery which the police solves and where the owners get back their property," the justice minister said.
Crimes against property are still the most wide-spread in Estonia, making up 56 percent of all the crime. The number of traffic crimes, which grew by one tenth in 2011, fell two percent to 3,731 crimes last year.
The crime solution rate remains at 50 percent similar to 2011 or the investigating bodies and the Prosecutor's Office solved 21,725 crimes, which put the rate of crime solution at 53 percent during the year.
The number of crimes per 10,000 residents was still the highest in Tallinn and in the East-Viru Country, the safest counties were those of Hiiu, Saare, Laane and Viljandi. The number of crimes grew in ten and fell in two counties, remaining stable in three counties. The number of crimes fell the most in Viljandi County where 21 percent fewer crimes were registered last year.
Fall in the crime level is confirmed also by aTNS Emor pol, in accordance with which eight percent of the residents had fallen victims to a crime. In 2010 the respective indicator was 12 and in 2011 nine percent.