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Police spare no efforts in engaging the community and promoting road safety
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     "Engaging the community" has been one of the Force Strategic Directions for years. Amongst various sectors in the community, Police endeavour to strengthen engagement with the youth, the elderly and the non-ethnic Chinese in the hope that  public support and cooperation with the Force could be enhanced which enables Police to maintain Hong Kong as one of the safest and most stable societies in the world.

     The remarks were made by Director of Operations, Mr Lau Yip-shing, today (July 29) at a press conference to review the crime situation in Hong Kong in the first half of 2015.

     For youth engagement, the Force provided comprehensive training and diversified activities for teenagers through "Junior Police Call" to help develop their potentials, assist them in building a positive life goal and become our fight crime partners.

     In view of the growing population of the elderly in recent years, Police established "Senior Police Call" (SPC) in 2014, which provides an effective platform for promoting crime prevention messages among the elderly, raising their awareness of road safety and facilitating them to help others in need. The SPC membership has increased from 2,330 in February 2014 to 4,970 in June 2015.

     In addition, Police organised various activities including Project Gemstone and Project Himalaya to engage the non-ethnic Chinese (NEC) in order to help them integrate into the community and improve their Chinese language ability. In the past year, 19 NEC who attended the programmes have successfully joined the Force as Police Constables, Auxiliary Police Constables and Police Community Liaison Assistants.

     The Force also introduced Project "Translink" to ten report rooms located in districts with relatively more NEC inhabited. Under the project, instant telephone interpretation services in seven common NEC languages are provided through teleconferencing at the report rooms.

     Regarding crimes committed by Mainland visitors, Mr Lau said from January to June in 2015, there were around 22.73 million Mainland visitor arrivals, a rise of about 1.04 million over the same period of last year.

     Among them, 684 were arrested for committing criminal offences, a decrease of 41 when compared with the same period of last year. The main offences committed by Mainland visitors were shop theft, miscellaneous theft and deception.

     Between January and June this year, 2,060 Mainland visitors were arrested for involving in vice activities, representing a drop of 206 when compared with the same period of last year. A total of 971 were arrested for involving in illegal employment related offences in the past six months, an increase of 338.

     "Police and other law enforcement agencies will continue adopting the three-level approach including effective screening at all immigration control points and enhancing joint enforcement action to tackle the problem of Mainland visitors committing crime in Hong Kong," Mr Lau said.

     Reviewing general road safety in Hong Kong, Mr Lau said the number of traffic accidents in the first six months of 2015 was 7,818, representing a rise of 120 when compared with the same period of last year. The number of fatal traffic accidents also increased by 26 to 65. Sixty-six people died from traffic accidents and 42 of them were pedestrians. Out of the 42 deceased, 27 were elderly pedestrians, a rise of nine as compared with the same period of last year.

     In the first half of 2015, there were 1,269 cycling related accidents, representing an increase of 65 when compared with the same period of last year.  Around 804 accidents happened on cycling tracks, bicycle parks, playgrounds and open space etc. while 465 took place on vehicle roads.

     Besides crossing the road illegally, driving inattentively is also one of the major causes of traffic accident.  There were 1,788 cases of traffic accident involving inattentive drivers in the first 6 months in 2015, sharing 23 per cent of total traffic accidents, being an increase of 265 cases.

     "In order to raise the level of road safety, Police will continue to take enforcement actions targeting serious and common traffic offences. "Safe Cycling", "Safety of Elderly Pedestrians" and "Focus on Driving" will be the themes of publicity.

     "We will continue to promote the message of safe cycling by visiting community centers, bicycle shops and bicycle clubs. SPC members will also help promote road safety via their network and through various activities," Mr Lau concluded.

 

Ends/Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:48

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