Speaking at a press conference on January 28 to review the crime situation last year, Mr Tsang said that during the period under review a total of 72,911 cases of crime were recorded, representing a drop of four per cent compared with the 75,930 cases in 2012.

 

The overall crime rate fell to new low in the present decade with a drop of more than 10 per cent compared with the 81,315 cases in 2004. The crime rate, measured in the number of crimes per 100,000 population, stood at 1,015 cases in 2013, a decrease of more than 15 per cent compared with the 1,199 cases in 2004.

 

Compared with other international cities such as Singapore, Tokyo, New York, London and Paris, the overall crime rate in Hong Kong is maintained on a low level. The rate in 2012 was 1,061 cases per 100,000 population. Though higher than that of Singapore (584), the figure was lower than those of Paris (10,455), London (9,500), New York (2,361) and Tokyo (1,387).  This indicates that the overall law and order situation in Hong Kong is rather good compared with other major cities.

 

A total of 12,153 cases of violent crime were recorded last year, a drop of about 5.2 per cent compared with 2012. The figure marked new low in the past decade.

 

Most crimes recorded significant decreases and seven major cases, including robbery, burglary, wounding and serious assault, theft, criminal damage, triad-related offences and youth crimes, fell to new lows in the past decade. Crimes on the rise in 2013 included deception, blackmail, serious drug offences and homicide.

 

 

Mr Tsang said a total of 7,518 cases of deception were reported in 2013, an increase of 595 or 8.6 per cent over the previous year. Increases were mainly recorded in e-mail scam, online business fraud and social media fraud.

 

There were 1,153 email scams on corporate level (up 723 cases or 1.7-fold) with loss amounting to $760 million in 2013, more than three-fold increase compared with 2012. The most substantial loss of such scam amounted to $75.2 million. In email scams on personal level, there were 544 cases in 2013 (up 168 cases) and the victims lost several hundreds dollars to $360,000.

 

There were 1,449 online business fraud cases in 2013, an increase of 344 over 2012, and 851 of the cases were related to online auction or shopping.

 

In social media deception, 2013 saw an increase of 132 cases or one-fold to 261 cases, with loss totalling $50 million, an increase of 66 per cent over 2012.

 

A total of 733 blackmail cases were recorded in 2013, a rise of 440 or 1.5-fold over 2012. The increase was mainly attributed to the rise in cases involving "naked chat". In 2013, the Force received 477 "naked chat" blackmail cases, a 7-fold increase over the 60 cases in 2012. The victims were mainly males and the financial loss ranged from more than $100 to $120,000. A majority of the fraudsters looked like Non-ethnic Chinese and most of the crime proceeds were remitted to the Philippines.

 

To tackle the surge in "naked chat" blackmail cases, Commercial Crime Bureau launched Operation GLOBALTEE in October 2013 with analysis of intelligence, law-enforcement actions, multi-agency collaboration, as well as publicity and education. The Force has taken a series of publicity initiatives, including publicity via "Police Magazine", Hong Kong Police YouTube Channel, radio and TV programmes.

 

These efforts have paid off, with "naked chat" blackmail cases dropping from 82 cases in October 2013 to 51 and 36 cases in November and December respectively.

 

 

Serious drug offences totalled 2,269 in 2013, a rise of 128 or six per cent compared with 2012. The rise was mainly attributable to an increase of about 61 per cent in anti-drug operations conducted by the Force in 2013. While cases involving "ice", cocaine and cannabis were on the rise, decreases were recorded in cases involving ketamine and heroine.

 

It should be noted that the number of juveniles aged between 10 and 15 arrested for drug trafficking increased by 43 from 52 in 2012 to 95 in 2013. This indicated that drug traffickers exploited more juveniles. To deal with this situation, the Force will strengthen publicity on youth involvement in drug trafficking and drug abuse, and continue to apply at court for heavier punishment for exploiting youths in drug trafficking.

 

As regard seizure of drugs by the Force and Customs and Excise Department, there were rises in cannabis (76 kg, up 21 kg), "ice" (174 kg, up 101 kg) and MDMA pills (3,320 pills, up 3,150 pills). Seizure of heroin dropped by nine kg to 69 kg and ketamine by 479 kg to 245 kg, and cocaine by 488 kg to 294 kg.

 

There were 62 homicide cases in 2013, a significant increase of 1.3-fold over the 27 cases in 2012. The increase in homicide case was due to the Lamma Island ferry collision on October 1, 2012, in which 39 persons perished. Two captains were charged with 39 counts of manslaughter in April 2013. If the Lamma incident is set aside, the figure will decrease by four cases compared with 2012.

 

Out of the 62 homicide cases, 61 were detected. Among the 23 homicide cases excluding the Lamma Island ferry collision incident, eight involved domestic violence, eight were committed by relatives, two involved triad-related personal disputes, one was manslaughter while the other four resulted from disputes or mental illnesses. The undetected case happened in December 2013 in which a female was found dead inside a wardrobe. Police have identified and are tracking the suspect.

 

Mr Tsang also pointed out that in 2013 decreases were recorded in miscellaneous theft (down 7.9 per cent), criminal damage (down 12.4 per cent), wounding and serious assault (down 9.6 per cent), burglary (down 15.2 per cent) and triad-related offences (down 13 per cent).

 

 

A total of 500 robbery cases were recorded in 2013, a decrease of 116 compared with 2012 and being the lowest since 1969. No robbery with genuine firearms was reported in 2013.

 

There were 105 rape cases in 2013, a drop of 16 compared with 2012, with 97 cases detected. Among the cases, eight involved strangers, 22 involved victims who were raped after drinking and 16 were related to Internet acquaintance.

 

Indecent assault cases totalled 1,463 in 2013, a decrease of 32 over 2012. However, there was an increase (totalling 360 cases, up 23 cases) in the cases that took place on public transport and related places, and more than 50 per cent (195 cases) occurred within MTR areas.

 

There were 1,870 cases of domestic violence in 2013, a decrease of 132 compared with the previous year. There was also a drop in domestic violence miscellaneous cases and family incident cases, which did not involve violence and were minor in nature.

 

In youth crimes, 5,397 youths were arrested in 2013, a decrease of 1,125 compared with 2012. They were mainly involved in cases like shop and miscellaneous theft, wounding and serious assault, serious drug offences and triad offences.

 

Since the launch of the Police YouTube Channel, the accumulated numbers of subscribers and video viewers top 3,600 and 510,000 respectively. The Force also launched optimised versions of Force Application in March and September 2013. The number of downloading of the Application has exceeded 90,000.  It is expected that these channels would offer more attraction to the community, particularly youths, for disseminating crime prevention messages.

 

 

The Commissioner also took the opportunity to introduce his Operational Priorities for 2014, which cover violent crime, triads, syndicated and organised crimes, dangerous drugs, quick cash crime, cyber security and technology crime, public safety, and terrorism.

 

In 2014, The Force will continue to maintain strong presence to deter violent crimes, especially those involving firearms or explosive devices and street gangs involving young persons, as well as to professionally investigate all reports of domestic violence.

 

The Force will also continue to target triad gangsters and cross-boundary and transnational syndicated or organised crimes. Proactive measures will be taken to investigate crime proceeds and money laundering activities.

 

In combatting dangerous drugs, the Force will continue to enhance co-operation with overseas law enforcement agencies to interdict illicit drug flows into Hong Kong; proactively target drug traffickers especially those exploiting young persons 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 crimes, the Force will continue to take proactive measures against social media deception activities, besides pickpocketing and street, telephone and Internet scams.

 

In cyber security, technology crime will be tackled on three fronts: adopting a multi-agency approach to promote public awareness of computer and cyber security as well as the risk associated with social media; enhancing co-operation with other law enforcement agencies; and improving co-ordination and sharing of expertise in investigating technology crime.

 

In public safety, the Force will continue to engage organisers and stakeholders of public events in a bid to enhance mutual understanding and enlist public support. At the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Finance Ministers' Meeting to be held in Hong Kong in September this year, the Force will adopt a multi-agency approach to ensure that the meeting would proceed in a safe and secure environment.

 

In addition, the Force will continue to implement anti-terrorism measures on three fronts, namely prevention, preparedness and response.

 

 

Mr Tsang said: "The overall law and order situation in Hong Kong in 2013 was further improved with the overall crime rate and a number of crimes reaching new lows in the past 10 years. I would like to thank different sectors of the community for their partnership with the Force in preventing and fighting crime, including the law-abiding citizens.

 

"Last year, the Force also gained recognition in local and international competitions and rating, including 2nd place in the indicator of 'Order and Security' among 97 countries and places in the World Justice Project in 2012-13 and 4th place in 'Reliability of Police Services' among 148 countries and cities around the world in 'The Global Competitiveness Report' published in September 2013 by the World Economic Forum.

 

"We will continue to provide quality services for the community and hope the public would work closely with us in fulfilling our commitments to securing public safety and maintaining law and order."