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The overall law and order situation in Hong Kong remained stable in 2012 with a slight drop in the overall crime, according to the Commissioner of Police, Mr Tsang Wai-hung.
Speaking at a press conference today (January 29) to review the crime situation in Hong Kong last year, Mr Tsang said that during the period, a total of 75,930 cases of crime were recorded, representing a slight drop when compared with 75,936 cases in 2011.
The detection rate was 43.6 per cent, an increase by 1.1 per cent when compared with 2011.
There were a total of 12,821 cases of violent crime recorded last year, a drop of about two per cent when compared with the preceding year.
Noting that most categories of crimes recorded a fall, Mr Tsang said the crimes with the number of cases on the rise included deception (up 12.9 per cent), rape (up 33 per cent), serious drug offences (up 4.7 per cent), and criminal damage (up 3.7 per cent).
A total of 6,923 cases of deception were registered in 2012, being an increase of 789 cases or 12.9 per cent when compared with the previous year.
Increase was mainly seen in e-mail scam (up 415 cases), online business fraud (up 217 cases) and telephone deception (up 398 cases).
Out of the 806 e-mail scam cases in 2012, 430 cases (up 275 cases) were corporate e-mail scam with losses amounting to nearly $180 million, giving a 2.7 fold increase when compared with 2011. Small or medium sized enterprises were the main target. For personal email scam, there were 376 cases (up 140 cases) in 2012 and victims lost from several hundred dollars to more than $300,000.
There were a total of 1,105 online business fraud cases in 2012 with 823 cases related to online auction or shopping. The Commercial Crime Bureau has formed a working group since October 2012 to tackle the problem with a holistic approach through enhanced intelligence gathering, crime prevention, enforcement operations and cooperation with relevant stakeholders.
In respect of telephone deception, 2012 saw an increase of 398 cases or 20.8 per cent to 2,314 cases. Tactics employed by culprits mainly included ˇ§Detained Sonˇ¨ and "Guess Who".
"Since majority of the calls were fishing calls from deception syndicates in the Mainland, we have enhanced intelligence cooperation with our Mainland counterpart," Mr Tsang said.
ˇ§We have also maintained close liaison with remittance agencies, requesting them to pay attention and assist in stopping any suspicious remittance requests to the Mainland or overseas.
ˇ§We will launch a campaign this year to recruit elderly to assist in crime prevention publicity on various deceptions among elderly,ˇ¨ he added.
Turning to rape and indecent assault, a total of 121 rape cases were recorded in 2012, an increase of 30 cases or 33 per cent when compared with the previous year. Of all the reported cases, 108 were detected. 114 cases involved culprits known to the victims and 18 were committed by friends acquainted through Internet.
Indecent assault cases totaled 1,495 cases in 2012, a rise of 80 cases or 5.7 per cent when compared with 2011.
ˇ§Police will continue to strengthen publicity and education in order to safeguard in particular the youth against sexual crimes,ˇ¨ Mr Tsang said.
Serious drug offences totalled 2,141, a rise of 96 cases or 4.7 per cent when compared with the preceding year. While cases involved ice and ketamine were on the rise, decreases were recorded in cases involving heroin and cocaine.
As a result of enforcement actions by various departments including Police and the Customs at control points, there was an increase in drug seizure in ketamine (up 448 kg or 1.6 fold increase), ice (up 34 kg or 87.2 per cent), cannabis (up 9 kg or 19.6 per cent), and cocaine (up 6 kg or 0.8 per cent).
Concerning criminal damage, 2012 saw a total of 7,318 reports, an increase of 261 cases or 3.7 per cent over the previous year. Over half of the cases were committed out of vandalism or for unknown intentions.
Mr Tsang also pointed out that crimes such as arson (down 32 per cent), missing motor vehicles (down 28 per cent), shop theft (down 7.8 per cent), and burglary (down 3.8 per cent) all recorded a decrease.
He then briefly talked about the crime situation of homicide, robbery, wounding and serious assault, and youth crimes.
There were a total of 27 homicides reported in 2012, an increase of 10 cases when compared with 2011. Eleven of the cases were family or domestic violence related; two were robbery related and two were manslaughter cases while the others were mainly caused by disputes. Twenty-five cases were detected. As for the two undetected cases, Police are making all efforts to apprehend the culprits.
A total of 616 robbery cases were recorded in 2012, a significant decrease of 115 cases when compared with 2011, which is the lowest since 1969. No robbery with genuine firearm was reported in 2012.
There were 6,818 cases of wounding and serious assault in 2012, a drop of 86 cases when compared with the preceding year. Among them, 1,145 cases were related to domestic violence, an increase of 37 cases, and over 5,500 cases were arising from disputes of various nature.
Turning to youth crimes, there were 6,522 young people under the age of 21 were arrested for crimes in 2012, with a decrease of 1,171 persons when compared with 2011. They mainly committed offences of wounding and serious assault, shop theft and miscellaneous theft.
ˇ§Despite the decreasing trend of youth crime, Police will continue to target juvenile delinquency with various approaches, including prevention and publicity, strengthened enforcement actions, graduated sanction and rehabilitation programme,ˇ¨ Mr Tsang added.
The Commissioner also took the opportunity to introduce the Commissionerˇ¦s Operational Priorities for 2013 which include violent crime; triads, syndicated and organised crime; dangerous drugs; quick cash crime; technology crime; public safety; and terrorism.
In 2013, Police will continue to ensure a strong Police presence to deter violent crime especially those involving firearms or explosive devices; target street gangs in particular those involving young people, as well as to professionally handle and investigate all reports of domestic violence.
Police will also continue its efforts in targeting triad personalities, and cross-boundary and transnational syndicated or organised crime activities. Proactive measures will be taken to investigate the proceeds of crime and money-laundering activities.
In combating dangerous drug, Police will continue to enhance co-operation with the Mainland, Macao and overseas law enforcement agencies to interdict illicit drug flow into Hong Kong; proactively target drug traffickers especially those exploiting minors and juveniles; as well as to adopt a multi-agency and community-based approach to promote anti-drug awareness among students and juveniles.
In tackling quick cash crime, apart from pickpocketing, miscellaneous theft, street, telephone and Internet deception, the Force will also target social media deception activities this year.
For technology crime, Police will enhance training and preparedness, and co-operation and intelligence exchange with other law enforcement agencies. A multi-agency approach will be adopted to promote public awareness of computer and cyber security as well as the risk of being exploited while using social media.
In respect of public safety, Police will proactively engage stakeholders of public events to enhance mutual understanding and to manage public events to ensure public order and public safety. On road safety, to deter drink and drug driving, speeding and illegal road racing and to promote safe cycling remain our priorities. A sub-section on Major Incidents and Disasters has been added in order to address the need for greater preparedness of the Force for a quick and effective response to major incidents and disasters.
In addition, the Force will continue to implement various anti-terrorism measures in three main aspects namely prevention, preparedness and response.
In conclusion, Mr Tsang said: "The support and participation of the public in the prevention of crime remained a key factor in maintaining the law and order situation in 2012.
"I hope the public will continue to support and assist the Force in fulfilling our responsibilities of keeping law and order to ensure Hong Kong to remain one of the safest cities in the world."
Also attending the press conference were the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Mr Tang Kam-moon, and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Management), Mr Ma Wai-luk.
Police Report No. 279
Ends/Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Issued at HKT 19:22
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