Fewer crimes reported in Sweden in March 2020 – the first month of the pandemic

The Swedish Crime Prevention Council (Brå) has published preliminary statistics on crimes reported to the police in March 2020 and made an overview of the consequences of the pandemic.

Brå finds that on a general level, the number of reported crimes in March 2020 has developed in a way that is largely in line with expectations of general reductions in the crime statistics as a result of the pandemic and its impact on society, crime and police operations. Brå emphasizes, however, that it is not a big reduction (4 percent) and this is a very early follow-up, where the pandemic situation cannot be assumed to have affected the statistics during all the weeks in March.