The number of Penal Code violations reported between January and November hit a record high 2,508,983, the National Police Agency said in a report.

The same period last year saw 2,228,567 violations reported, while about 2.4 million cases were reported for the whole of 2000.

The arrest rate, though improving slightly from the first half of this year, hit a postwar low of 20.2 percent, down from 24.3 percent in the same period last year.