(FORTUNE Magazine) – The only thing rising as fast as prices in the Soviet Union is the number of reported crimes. They rose 50% between 1985, the year Gorbachev took power, and the end of 1990, and are expected to continue at this pace through 1991 (see chart). Theft accounts for more than 60% of the crimes. Car owners have long been accustomed to having their windshield wipers stolen, and the prudent disconnect and remove them as a routine precaution after parking. But now thieves are stealing headlights too. Pravda reports train robbers have stolen $13 million worth of spare parts for motor vehicles, farm machines, and other goods. Meanwhile, Moskovskaya Pravda, a daily newspaper, reports that burglars ''don't just take your TV sets and household appliances, but even take a peek into your fridge and steal your sausage.'' In Minsk, a burglar murdered a woman and stole a slab of sausage and her instant coffee. Colonel Gennadi Lezhikov of the Interior Ministry says, ''The situation in the consumer market is not helping create respect for the law.'' Adds Boris Gromov, the no-nonsense army general recently appointed First Deputy Interior Minister to head a get-tough-on-crimin als campaign: ''It is doubtful that public order will improve in the Soviet Union in the near future.''

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: FORTUNE CHART/SOURCE: SOVIET MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS CAPTION: NUMBER OF CRIMES IN U.S.S.R. Burglars killed a woman for her sausage meat.