Increase in offenses, reduction in investigative resources… The rate of clarification of cases is clearly decreasing in France

Between 2017 and 2022, the rate of clarification of investigations by police officers and gendarmes has generally decreased according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior published Thursday.

The Ministry of the Interior published figures on Thursday April 25 which show an overall drop in the elucidation rate in 5 years. Concretely, this rate represents the ability of investigators to put a name to a crime or misdemeanor after filing a complaint, for example. Are the police and gendarmes having more difficulty than before in clarifying their investigations?

In the case of the most serious crimes, homicides, the drop in the elucidation rate is very clear. Between 2017 and 2022, it decreased by 12 points. After a year of investigation after the crime was committed, 69% of these homicides were solved in 2022. This rate drops in the same proportions in the case of scams, a very marked drop is also observed for sexual violence.

The drop is a little lower in the case of domestic violence and intentional injury. The figures are stable in investigations for burglaries and other car thefts, and non-violent thefts. After four years of investigation, and no longer one year, the elucidation rates are at higher levels, the investigators having had more time to carry out their investigations.

An increase in offenses

Regarding sexual violence, there is an objective increase in rapes and sexual assaults. The effects of the #MeToo movement, which has made these offenses more visible, are also being felt, with victims filing complaints more easily. In the case of homicides, the statistical service of the Ministry of the Interior points to an increase in murders. This requires more judicial police resources to work on investigations. Finally, regarding scams, the ministry points to the increasingly sophisticated operating methods of criminals which make investigations more complicated.

The effectiveness of the judicial investigations in question

The ANPJ – investigators from the judicial police grouped together to defend their profession which they consider threatened – considers that this falling elucidation rate is the result of political choices made by Emmanuel Macron at the expense of the judicial police. The President of the Republic wants “put blue on the field”that is to say public security police officers, estimates the ANPJ.

Since 2022, the government has reformed the organization of the police, a reform widely criticized by police officers specializing in judicial police because it puts the resources of the PJ at the service of public security. The ANPJ therefore fears that this reform will only accentuate the decline in the rate of clarification of investigations.