Police unveil priorities for 2001

  • 2001-01-25
  • Aleksei Gunter
TALLINN - Fighting drug-related crimes and the development of public cooperation have been set as top priority tasks for Estonia's police for 2001.

According to the Estonian police department, 57,799 crimes were registered in Estonia last year, of which only 17,952 cases were solved.

Although the number of crimes rose by 12 percent last year (6,260 more crimes were registered than in 1999), the police department sees the 10 percent decrease in homicides as a positive sign. According to sociologists, the number of intentional homicides is still rather high in comparison with European standards.

The intentional homicide rate is calculated by dividing the number of residents by the number of murders. It's one of the criteria for assessing the general criminal situation in a country.

Harry Tuul, director general of the Estonian police department, said that in his opinion trust in the police has been growing over the last five years.

"But it's still sad for us to realize that 36 percent of the population still have little trust in the police," he added.

Tuul said that the police department managed to fulfill the objectives it set for last year relatively well. Nevertheless, they look very similar to this year's aims. They included establishing better contacts with the population, fighting drug-related crimes, and alcohol and tobacco smuggling.

The number of registered and solved drug crimes, which include minor offenses like the possession and use of drugs, quadrupled last year. Drug-related crimes took place mostly in Tallinn (43 percent) and Narva (41 percent). The overall number of drug crimes totaled more than 600 last year.

"Frankly speaking, only about 140 of them were serious cases that involved dealers and organized crime," said Juri Kasesalu, head of Tallinn's police force.

Ralf Palo, Tuul's deputy, said that 2000 was the only year when the number of crimes registered in Tallinn didn't make up over 50 percent of Estonia's total number.

Estonia was rated as a safe country in a survey conducted among tourists last November. But the problem of crime across the country alerted the researchers who composed the last UN Human Development Report on Estonia, dated December 2000.

A total of 365 murders annually, the figure registered in 1994, is indeed a high rate. Current figures are less pessimistic but still higher than the West European average of 13.9 victims per 100,000 inhabitants. The number of homicides committed in Estonia last year was 143.

In 1996, Estonia and Albania shared the same levels of intentional homicide. Two years before that, Estonia took fourth place in the world on the international homicide list, with 25.8 victims per 100,000 residents. Only Colombia, Russia and Ecuador beat Estonia. Latvia was not far behind, in sixth place.

The homicide rate in Estonia was at its lowest level during Soviet rule, according to the UN Human Development Report.