Processing time on cases with the police is increasing

PoliceIllustration.Police.Photo: Norway Today Media

“The case processing time has increased both for the most serious cases of violence and those of rape over the past five years. – Unfortunate,” says the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Police Directorate.

Figures show that the average time to investigate a rape in Norway in 2018 was 217 days. The police’s own deadline is 130 days, writes Dagbladet.

For serious violence, the police used 133 days, while the deadline is 90 days. 40 percent of the cases reached this last year. For the investigation of cases where a suspected perpetrator is under the age of 18, a nine percentage point increase in violation of the deadline, up to 74 percent, from 2014 to last year, the newspaper writes.

In a joint report, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Police Directorate state that there is reason to emphasize that “these are cases where a quick clarification is desirable both for the sake of the persons involved and the evidence in the case”. They further write that “the developments that are now seen are unfortunate and worrying”.

The reason why the case processing time continues to increase is a sharp increase in the number of reported sexual offenses and violent crimes, as well as a more complex criminal picture, the newspaper writes.

Section Head Harald Bøhler of the Police Directorate says they prioritize serious, infringing cases, but say they are challenged on capacity to be able to counter the sharp increase in the number of cases.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today