Investigation of the criminal offences related to the Vastaamo case has required an exceptional amount of work from the police, and this is clearly visible in the statistics for the police’s criminal investigations for this year. By the end of June, approximately 25,000 crimes related to the case have been solved.
This large number of solved crimes is reflected in the main statistics describing the results and monitoring of criminal investigations, which include the clear-up rate and investigation time for criminal law offences (traffic offences excluded). An average of approximately 350,000 criminal law offences (traffic offences excluded) are reported annually to the police.
Investigations related to the Vastaamo case at police departments have primarily concerned offences designated as aggravated attempted extortion or aggravated dissemination of information invading privacy. When these solved crimes are taken into account in the overall statistics, the clear-up rate has increased from the corresponding period in the previous year by roughly 15 percentage points (49.5% -> 65.1%). At the same time, the investigation time for crimes has extended by 138 days (178 -> 316 days). Regarding the Vastaamo case, most of the reports of an offence filed by injured parties were recorded in late 2020. With the investigations being completed during the spring and summer, the investigation time grows significantly. If the offence designations mentioned above are not included in the statistics, the clear-up rate has increased from 2022 by roughly 5 percentage points (45.8% -> 51%) and the investigation time has extended by 3 days (174 -> 177 days). The difference in the statistics evens out towards the end of the year but remains visible in the statistics for 2023 compared with other years.
The clear-up rate of criminal law offences (excluding traffic offences) has varied between 45% and 50% in the last five years. The investigation time has extended by roughly 40 days since 2019 (in 2022, the investigation time was 175 days). The growing investigation times have generally been driven by changes in the operating environment for criminal investigations, such as the strong increase in offences with the help of data networks and the internationalisation of crime, which make solving crimes more difficult and time-consuming. It is more common than before for the police to be investigating larger groups of crimes, such as the Vastaamo case, and such investigations take up a lot of resources. The police has also uncovered some series of crimes through its own operations.
The numbers of offences against life and health, sexual offences and robberies have also clearly increased over the last few years. The police is especially concerned for children and the young. The numbers of serious offences committed by people under 18 and with victims under 18 have strongly increased during the last three years. In 2020, there were 15,000 offences against people under 18 years of age (offences against life and health, honour, freedom and peace, as well as sexual offences, robberies and extortions) while last year, 18,000 offences were reported to the police. The number has continued to grow strongly this year and according to estimates, it may exceed 21,000. The numbers of robberies and assaults committed by offenders under 18 have also continued to increase.
