In 1999 there was an increase in all criminal offenses known to the police, a trend that has continued from previous years. Police officers and criminal investigators submitted complaints to the public prosecutor for 62,836 criminal offenses committed by known and unknown suspects; this is 13.1 percent more than in the previous year. This record year for recorded crime was due not only to a deteriorating security situation but also to a change in statistical reporting. This involves a gradual shifting of minor criminal offenses known to the police to the official crime statistics (a looser interpretation of proceedings for the prosecution of offenders at the request of victims). The statistical increase is also partially due to complaints filed ahead of time for criminal offenses not yet cleared but which otherwise could no longer be recorded by the police due to the introduction of a new information system at the end of 1999. The fact that the police investigated crime in a worse security situation than a year ago is indicated by the data on criminal offenses, the number of which does not depend on the method of recording crime nor on the legal ground for their prosecution. The structure of criminal offenses handled indicates, compared to the previous year, an increase in the number of homicides, assaults and aggravated assaults, robberies, burglaries, illegal passages of the state border, and narcotic drug abuse. Police officers successfully investigated 29,285 cases or 46.6 percent of all handled offenses and complaints that were filed for 37,436 suspects (1.3 percent less than in the previous year). The rate of cleared offenses has declined compared to the previous year (5.5 percent less). An increase in the total number of handled criminal offenses has statistically diminished the rate of cleared offenses, because the investigative capacities of the police have not changed substantially within this period of time. 12 tables and 6 figures