Both serious and petty crime rose substantially in the first half of this year in Greece, in some cases by almost 50 percent, according to figures made public last week by Greek police.
However the number of crimes being solved has also increased according to Greek authorities.
The biggest rise was in sexual exploitation crimes, which were up by 49 percent, followed by bank robberies, which shot up by 43 percent and other robberies, which rose by 40 percent.
There was also a rise of 30 percent in the theft of animals, 14 percent in the theft of cars and almost 10 percent in the number of burglaries.
Greek police claimed that the fact it was now recording crimes more accurately had, in part, contributed to the numbers being higher.
It also said that although there had been an increase in crime, the proportion of crimes being solved also rose.
The number of robberies solved rose by almost 37 percent while the number of blackmail cases cracked was up by 67 percent.
There was also a small rise (2.8 percent) in the number of burglaries solved.
The Interior Ministry took the unusual step of highlighting the proportion of crimes that are committed by foreigners living in Greece.
It said that foreigners commit almost half of robberies, break-ins, rapes and sexual exploitation crimes.