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A survey about Hong Kong residents who were victims of criminal offences committed in Hong Kong in 2005, revealed a low crime victimisation rate, indicating that Hong Kong remained a safe city.
The survey on "Crime and Its Victims in Hong Kong in 2005" was conducted from January to May, 2006, via a Thematic Household Survey co-ordinated by the Census and Statistics Department. It was the seventh of its kind conducted under the auspices of the Fight Crime Committee.
Some 20,100 households involving 56,100 people aged 12 and over were interviewed, representing a response rate of 83%.
The survey results estimated that the total number of crime victimisations in 2005 was 358,800, an increase of 1.9% when compared to 352,200 in 1998. The increase was mainly attributable to increases in cases of wounding and assault (+9,700) and deception (+9,600), most of which were minor in nature.
Of the 358,800 cases, 214,100 (or 60%) were against people and 144,700 (or 40%) were against households.
The victimisation rate for personal crimes in 2005 was 35 per 1,000 people, representing a slight increase when compared to 34 per 1,000 people in 1998. The victimisation rate for household crimes was 66 per 1,000 households, with a significant decrease when compared to 80 per 1,000 households in 1998.
Theft and violent crimes accounted for 70% and 30% respectively of victimisations against people, while other household theft and burglary accounted for 43% and 23% respectively of victimisations against households.
Regarding violent crimes, it was estimated that there were 64,700 victimisations. People aged between 20 and 29 had the highest victimisation rate of 17 per 1,000 people, compared with 11 per 1,000 persons on average. Among these 64,700 victimisations, 64% did not involve any physical injuries at all, followed by victimisations involving minor injuries (34%). Those who suffered from serious physical injuries accounted for only 2% of the overall total.
Regarding personal crimes of theft, the estimated number of victimisations was 149,300, of which 69,000 (or 46%) were pickpocketing cases.
Of those victimisations resulting in loss/damage of property, 70% involved loss/damage of less than $1,950, while only 4% involved loss/damage of $9,950 or more.
Overall speaking, victimisation rates have been stable over the years. For personal crimes, the overall rate and the rates for most individual types of crime fluctuated by only small margins. For household crimes, the overall rate dropped by 18% from 1998 to 2005. During the same period, the rates for individual types of household crime were also on a downward trend.
The survey also looked into the willingness of the public to report crime. The reporting rate for individual types of crime victimisation varies, ranging from 86% for theft of vehicle to only 5% for household theft other than burglary.
The reporting rate tended to be higher when the value of property lost/damaged was higher: 29% for victimisations involving a property loss/damage of $950 or more. Injured victims were more likely to report crime: 35% of victimisations of violent crime entailing physical injuries of victims were reported, compared with 7% for cases in which the victims were not injured.
The common reasons for not reporting victimisations to the Police included : the victims considered that they had not suffered much or any loss at all (38%), or that their case lacked evidence (24%).
In the survey, respondents were also asked how they judged the acceptability of police manners and quality of police service and 89% of the victims who reported to the police considered the manner of the police officers dealing with them as "good" or "very good" whereas 85% considered the quality of service provided by the police officers dealing with them as "good" or "very good".
A spokesman for the Fight Crime Committee said that the general crime trends as revealed by the survey results broadly followed the actual crime trends as recorded by the Police for most of the crimes. It provides a separate and useful source of information to the Government for planning police deployment, anti-crime strategies and crime prevention measures.
"We will make reference to the survey results where appropriate and adopt a targeted approach in our publicity work to enlist the support of the public to fight crime. The Police will also consider if the crime reporting procedures could be further streamlined to facilitate crime reporting," he said.
The detailed findings of the survey on "Crime and Its Victims in Hong Kong in 2005" are contained in the Thematic Household Survey Report No. 31 published by the Census and Statistics Department, which can be downloaded for free from the website of the Department: www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/products/publications/index.jsp.
Ends/Thursday, October 18, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:26
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