Dutch police registered 7,478 sex crimes last year but in most cases the perpetrator was known to the victim, the AD reported on Monday.

‘We are afraid if we cycle through dark streets, but in 90% of cases, the attacker is granddad, a family friend or a teacher,’ police sex crime specialist Yet van Mastrigt told the paper.

The AD’s crime register shows a 2% rise in sex crimes last year, which goes against the trend of declining crime rates, but this is to be expected, Van Mastrigt said.

‘The number of reports needs to stabilise first,’ she said. In addition, reporting methods have changed and victims are more likely to come forward, she said.

‘We hope that more reports will lead to more victims getting help, not just from the police, but also from others,’ she told the paper.

Of the total sex crimes (excluding child porn) reported to the police last year, some 2,800 remain open. Some of these will result in a formal complaint but others will be dropped, Van Mastrigt said.

Some victims prefer not to proceed with a case after talking to police because of the chance of conviction or because they do not feel they are up to a long investigation and trial, she told the AD.