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Overall law and order situation remained stable in 2007
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    The overall law and order situation in Hong Kong remained very stable in 2007 with a slight drop of 0.4 per cent in the overall crime, according to the Commissioner of Police, Mr Tang King-shing.

     Speaking at a press conference today (January 31) to review the crime situation in Hong Kong last year, Mr Tang said, "During the period, a total of 80,796 cases of crime were recorded, representing a slight drop of 0.4 per cent when compared with 81,125 cases in 2006.ˇ¨

     Mr Tang said the detection rate was 45.6 per cent, a rise of one per cent when compared with 2006.

     There were a total of 14,934 cases of violent crime recorded last year, a slight increase of 0.6 per cent when compared with 14,847 cases in 2006.

     Noting that there was a substantial increase in the number of crimes such as serious narcotics offences (up 30.5 per cent), criminal intimidation (up 16.2 per cent), pickpocketing (up 20.3 per cent) and criminal cases of domestic violence (up 38.3 per cent), Mr Tang said Police spared no efforts in the fight against these crimes.

     ˇ§During the year, there were a total of 2,769 serious narcotics offences, of which, 2,137 cases involved psychotropic substances, making up 77.2 per cent of the overall cases,ˇ¨ Mr Tang said.

     ˇ§A total of 3,531 people were arrested for serious narcotics offences, 2,779 of whom were persons involved with psychotropic substances, making up 78.7 per cent of the overall number of persons arrested,ˇ¨ he said.

     ˇ§Among those arrested, 922 were young people, doubled the figure of 454 young people in 2006. More than 90 per cent of the young persons arrested were involved with psychotropic substances, majority of them being involved with Ketamine.ˇ¨

     ˇ§The Police will continue to mount intelligence-led operations against drug traffickers, and employ a multi-agency approach to prevent the abuse of drugs, particularly amongst young people,ˇ¨ he said.

     ˇ§We will continue to make maximum use of available legislation to confiscate the proceeds of drug trafficking and maintain excellent cooperation with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies,ˇ¨ he added.

     Mr Tang said that the overall number of domestic violence cases reported in 2007 was 7,509, a rise of 2,805 when compared with 2006. Among these, 2,505 criminal cases of domestic violence were recorded, a sharp increase of 694 cases when compared with the same period in 2006. For non-criminal cases, there were 5,004 reports received, a rise of 2,111 reports when compared with 2006.

     In addressing the concern about a sharp increase of domestic violence cases, the Commissioner said since the implementation of enhanced measures to strengthen Police response to domestic violence incidents in November 2006, apart from a brief initial rise, the number of domestic violence cases recorded every month had ranged from 530 to 672 per month.

     ˇ§The figures indicate that the situation has stablised,ˇ¨ said Mr Tang, adding that this tended to show that publicity and education campaigns organised by the Government had promoted public awareness of domestic violence and that those with family problems were more willing to seek early assistance from frontline professionals, including the police and social workers.

     Other crimes such as homicide (down 48.6 per cent), robbery (down 22.7 per cent), burglary (down 15.1 per cent), snatching (down 24.7 per cent) and cases of missing vehicles (down 21.2 per cent) all recorded a notable fall.

     ˇ§There were a total of 18 homicides reported in 2007, a decrease of 17 cases when compared with 2006. All the 18 cases were detected. The number of homicides is the lowest in 30 years,ˇ¨ the Commissioner said.

     Mr Tang pointed out that a total of 1,216 robberies were reported in 2007, representing a considerable decrease of 22.7 per cent. None of the robberies involved the use of a genuine firearms and there were only eight bank robberies over the year.

     ˇ§It is believed that the significant drop was mainly due to strong police presence and strategic deployment of resources. We will continue to interdict the smuggling of firearms from the Mainland through proactive measures and the exchange of intelligence with the Mainland law enforcement agencies,ˇ¨ Mr Tang said.

     Turning to juvenile crime, Mr Tang said that there were 4,644 juveniles (aged 10 to 15) and 5,023 young persons (aged 16 to 20) arrested for crimes in 2007. However, it was worth noting that whilst the number of juveniles and young persons arrested for crimes saw a rise of three per cent and one per cent respectively, the overall number of arrests saw only a small change.

     "The crimes committed by them were predominantly miscellaneous and shop theft, woundings, assaults and serious narcotics offences," he said.

     Introducing the operational priorities for this year, Mr Tang said in addition to the seven priorities adopted in 2007, the Commissionerˇ¦s Operational Priorities for 2008 also included an eighth priority to highlight the importance of effective police enforcement during 2008 Olympic Equestrian Event.

     ˇ§The Police will ensure the equestrian events are held smoothly, in a safe and secure environment for all participants,ˇ¨ he said.

     ˇ§We will facilitate the effective deployment of resources to manage the events whilst continuing to provide day-to-day police service,ˇ¨ he added.

     Also attending the press conference to review the law and order situation in 2007 were the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Mr Yam Tat-wing, and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Management), Mr Tsang Wai-hung.

Police Report No. 9

Ends/Thursday, January 31, 2008
Issued at HKT 22:34

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