Crime statistics

The Romanian police has presented its activity report for 2013 and its priorities in 2014.

România Internațional, 12.02.2014, 14:02

2013 was the second year in a row to see a drop in the level of reported crime and the first in the last 10 years when the level of judicial crime decreased by over 9%. These figures were provided by the head of the Romanian police Petre Toba, who made public the police activity report for 2013. Theft, which is still the main crime committed in Romania, saw a significant decrease of 8% for the first time in the last 6 years. According to Petre Toba, corruption among police also decreased by 16%, while citizens’ safety increased significantly:

“In 2013, safety levels were the highest in the last 5 years. This was the second consecutive year when reported crime increased and the first time in the last 10 years when we had less judicial crimes.”

2013 was also a first in terms of road safety. For the first time after 1990, the number of traffic related deaths dropped to below 2,000. The Romanian police last year conducted 105 operational missions abroad, most of which involved patrol and law enforcement support activities. 83 police officers were deployed to peace keeping missions in Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Georgia. The head of the Romanian police also spoke about the main problems this institution and its employees faced in 2013. In logistical terms, 90% of the police cars were up to standards. In terms of investments, however, the police only received 6% of the required funding.

The head of the Romanian police hailed, however, the unprecedented reform seen by the legal criminal system in Romania. This refers both to the adoption of the criminal code and criminal procedure code to replace over 46 year old legislation, and the updating of more than 350 special laws. 2013 also saw the creation of a number of specialised bodies, such as the Service for Behavioural Analysis, to assist judicial police, in particular the Criminal Investigations Directorate, and a number of legal monitoring offices working with the county police departments and the Bucharest police.

As its priorities this year, the Romanian police aims to conduct its activities in keeping with the new codes, make sure the elections go well, do its best to ensure citizens’ safety, prevent crime and combat tax evasion and corruption.