Press release No. 317 of 22 August 2019
WIESBADEN – In 2018, the public prosecution offices in Germany completed 4.9 million criminal investigation proceedings. This was an increase of approximately 81,000, or 1.7%, compared with 2017. Most of the investigation proceedings (81.6%) were forwarded to the public prosecutors by police stations. The remaining proceedings were instigated by the public prosecution offices themselves or were initiated by tax or customs investigation offices or administrative authorities. Offences against property accounted for roughly a third (32.3%) of the criminal proceedings completed. This was followed by road traffic offences at 18.0%, crimes against life or physical integrity at 9.4%, and offences against the Narcotics Act at 8.3%.
