The police's discontinuation of cases concerning financial crime
SCALE
- Approx. 513,000 cases concerning financial crime were reported, and approx. 236,000 discontinued, from 2019 to the first half of 2025.
- 13% of police employees working with financial crime say they have refrained from registering a case concerning financial crime; the number of cases involved cannot be calculated.
- Since 2022, police districts have discontinued more than twice as many cases without investigation as before, both above and below the confidential monetary threshold.
- In approximately 7,100 cases, the police told the injured party that an investigation had been initiated, although, in Rigsrevisionen's assessment, no investigative steps had been taken.
PERFORMANCE ASPECT
- Rigsrevisionen finds the police's practice for discontinuing financial-crime cases highly unsatisfactory: several districts have set local discontinuation criteria well above the confidential threshold, discontinuation of cases above the threshold without investigation has more than doubled since 2022, and cases are registered, investigated and decided inconsistently across districts. Rigsrevisionen recommends that the Ministry of Justice define what constitutes an investigative step and monitor the area more closely, so that citizens are treated consistently across the country.
1. Police districts set local discontinuation criteria well above the confidential central threshold
Guidance Regulatory system
Several police districts have established internal instructions for discontinuing cases involving significantly larger losses than the centrally determined monetary threshold; particularly since 2022, the police have discontinued many cases above the threshold without investigating them (Inquiry case / Conclusion table, p.4). The police districts have, to a wide extent, established local criteria for discontinuing cases that go beyond what the Ministry of Justice has stated falls within the framework of the Administration of Justice Act (Summary, p.4-5). Since 2022, police districts have discontinued more than twice as many cases without investigation as previously, both above and below the threshold.
- Domains: police, justice
- Function: governance, regulations
- Quality: Clear objectives and goal-setting
2. Cases were discontinued without investigation even where the police's own specialists judged them worth pursuing
Results review Monitoring
Some police districts extensively discontinue cases without investigating them, even though the Danish National Police's specialist units for money laundering and IT-related financial crime have assessed that there was potential to investigate them (Summary, p.5). This suggests the discontinuation practice is not consistently grounded in the police's own assessment of investigative potential.
- Domains: police, internal-affairs
- Function: governance, monitoring
- Quality: Functioning oversight and governance
3. Some districts discontinued cases simply because they were expected to become time-barred
Guidance Procedures
Two police districts have had a practice of discontinuing cases because the cases are expected to become time-barred in the future (Summary, p.5), rather than because an assessment of the case's merits or investigative potential supported discontinuation.
- Domains: police, justice
- Function: governance, workProcessDesign
- Quality: Clear objectives and goal-setting
4. Weak registration practice means the true scale of financial crime cannot be reliably established
Documentation Tools
13% of the police employees who work with financial crime have stated that they have refrained from registering cases concerning financial crime, and it is not possible to calculate how many cases are involved. At the same time, the police register some reports as so-called inquiry cases in a shared category with cases concerning, for example, burglary and theft, so inquiry cases are not included in the police's statistics; Rigsrevisionen finds it inappropriate that the police cannot clearly calculate the extent of cases concerning financial crime, with the consequence that data provided to the Folketing underestimate its true extent (Summary, p.4-5).
- Domains: police, justice
- Function: documentation
- Quality: Reliable, integrated information base
5. Victims were told an investigation had begun when no investigative steps had actually been taken
Guidance Documentation
Rigsrevisionen has calculated that, in approx. 7,100 cases, the police informed the injured party that they had initiated an investigation, even though, in Rigsrevisionen's assessment, no investigative steps had been taken (Summary, p.5). There is no clear definition of what constitutes an investigative step, and Rigsrevisionen recommends that the Ministry of Justice ensure that clearer frameworks are drawn up for this (Summary, p.5-6).
- Domains: police, justice
- Function: governance, documentation
- Quality: Reliable, integrated information base
6. Police employees discontinued cases that only the prosecution service is authorised to decide
Responsibility Procedures
Across all police districts, police employees have discontinued several hundred cases where the loss per case exceeded DKK 500,000, even though cases of this size must be regarded as serious crime and must therefore always be decided by the prosecution service (Summary, p.6).
- Domains: police, justice, public-prosecution-service
- Function: governance, regulations
- Quality: Clear objectives and goal-setting
7. Practice varies widely between police districts, with no central monitoring to ensure consistent treatment of citizens
Monitoring Results review
Across the areas examined, there are considerable differences between the police districts in relation to whether investigations are initiated and cases discontinued. The legislation gives the police wide discretionary powers, but Rigsrevisionen encourages the Ministry of Justice to monitor the area more closely to ensure that citizens across the country are treated consistently (Summary, p.6).
- Domains: police, justice
- Function: monitoring, governance
- Quality: Sound risk management
Control focus
| ICS phase | Control function | Cases |
|---|---|---|
| Initial phase | Guidance | 1. Police districts set local discontinuation criteria well above the confidential central threshold<br/>3. Some districts discontinued cases simply because they were expected to become time-barred<br/>5. Victims were told an investigation had begun when no investigative steps had actually been taken |
| Responsibility | 6. Police employees discontinued cases that only the prosecution service is authorised to decide | |
| Entity in its environment | Regulatory system | 1. Police districts set local discontinuation criteria well above the confidential central threshold |
| Completion of process | Results review | 2. Cases were discontinued without investigation even where the police's own specialists judged them worth pursuing<br/>7. Practice varies widely between police districts, with no central monitoring to ensure consistent treatment of citizens |
| Work processes | Monitoring | 2. Cases were discontinued without investigation even where the police's own specialists judged them worth pursuing<br/>7. Practice varies widely between police districts, with no central monitoring to ensure consistent treatment of citizens |
| Procedures | 3. Some districts discontinued cases simply because they were expected to become time-barred<br/>6. Police employees discontinued cases that only the prosecution service is authorised to decide | |
| Tools | 4. Weak registration practice means the true scale of financial crime cannot be reliably established | |
| Functions applied to all stages | Documentation | 4. Weak registration practice means the true scale of financial crime cannot be reliably established<br/>5. Victims were told an investigation had begun when no investigative steps had actually been taken |
Compliance focus
- Under section 2 of the Police Act, the police are tasked with bringing criminal activity to an end and investigating and prosecuting criminal offences.
- Under section 742(2) of the Administration of Justice Act, the police must initiate an investigation, following a report or on their own initiative, whenever there are reasonable grounds to suspect an offence subject to public prosecution.
- Under the multiannual agreement for 2021-2023 (extended to 2025), and with the approval of the Ministry of Justice, the Danish National Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions set a confidential, centrally determined monetary threshold below which financial-crime cases may be discontinued without investigation.
- Cases involving a loss above DKK 500,000 are regarded as serious crime and must always be decided by the prosecution service, not by police employees.
osie/domains_publicActivities.xml, osie/portfolio_CUBE.xml, osie/control_ICS-AuditingIC.xml, osie/functions_organizational.xml, osie/qualityConditions.xml) and the internal-control terminology of INTOSAI's Guidance on Auditing Internal Control (ICS), drafted by the Internal Control Standards Subcommittee, which NIK (Poland) chairs. Underlying data: alg_policeFinancialCrimeCases.xml (dokAAPp.xsd instance). All readers are encouraged to consult the original report (linked above).