Offence known to the authorities

A matter recorded in the police information system as an offence. The offence may have become known to the police, customs or border guard either as a report or in connection with another investigation. The offence is recorded in the statistics for the year in which it becomes known to the authorities. An offence refers to an act for which a punishment is decreed in legislation. The task of the police, customs and border guard is to investigate the offence, conduct a pre-trial investigation and transfer the solved offence to the prosecutor for consideration. In more lenient cases, the offence may be left unreported to the prosecutor on the grounds laid down in law. The statistical unit used is an offence. If several persons have taken part in the same offence together, the number of offences recorded is one. If several similar offences are committed at the same time, several of these offences can be recorded. The offence is recorded based on the municipality where the offence occurred. The offence may also have taken place abroad and a report of it is recorded if the police, customs or border guard have jurisdiction in the matter and the offence has concerned (as a suspect or victim) a Finnish citizen, a person permanently resident in Finland or a Finnish legal person.