A fresh report by the National Bureau of Investigation indicates few changes in the Finnish crime scene last year.

   

Economic and environmental crimes, as well as crimes involving natural resources, illegal immigration, and counterfeiting increased somewhat last year from 2001.

There was a decrease

in homicides, thefts, and car thefts, while crimes involving information technology have remained at a fairly low level.

   

In economic crimes, a large number of cases remain open; the cases themselves are complicated, and the number of suspected crimes has gone up, resulting in longer investigation times.

   

Last year nearly 1,500 economic crimes were recorded, and at the end of last year more than 2,200 open cases were still under investigation. More than half of them involved taxation.

   

Average investigation times had stretched to more than a year. The investigation of crimes involving large numbers of suspects is considered especially difficult.

   

Early this year the estimated amount of damage caused by the crimes still under investigation was 177 million euros. About 30 million euros worth of ill-gotten gains have been recovered.

The number of homicides

in Finland was lower than in many years.

   

Of the 126 killings, 38 were classified as murders, 87 as manslaughter, and one infanticide. The murder figures include the six people killed in the bombing of the Myyrmanni shopping mall last autumn.

The number of aggravated assaults

has continued to rise. Last year 2,160 were reported.

   

Less than 400 robberies, mainly targeting food stores, other retail stores, and kiosks were reported. Two thirds of these crimes took place in the province of Southern Finland.

There was a slight increase

in the amount of counterfeit money being circulated. The Crime Laboratory of the National Bureau of Investigation received 711 requests to investigate the authenticity of 2,500 suspect banknotes.

   

A total of 303 cases of counterfeiting were recorded. US dollars were the most frequently forged currency, with a large number of bad 100 dollar bills showing up.

   

There were also some counterfeit Euro banknotes, with considerable fluctuation in quality.

A total of 686 environmental crimes

and crimes involving natural resources were brought to the attention of the police in 2002, representing an increase of nearly 150 over the previous year.

   

Environmental crimes usually involve illegal dumping of waste on other people's property or in forests.

   

Only seven cases of aggravated environmental destruction were reported to the police.

There has been an increase

in reports of facilitating illegal immigration, but the overall number has been quite small.

   

Last year there were 51 reports of arranging illegal immigration, involving more than 800 people. The majority of the people being smuggled to Finland were Chinese, Iraqis, and Turks.

Motor vehicle theft

decreased in Finland and in most other EU countries last year.

   

Nevertheless more than 12,000 cars and motorcycles were stolen in 2001. In the record year of 1999, 15,000 vehicles were stolen.

   

Police and border officials also found 70 vehicles in Finland that had been reported stolen in another country.