Both Mr Lo (right) and Mr Lau answer many questions from the floor

The overall law and order situation in the first six months of 2015 remained stable with a slight increase in the overall crime figure, Director of Crime and Security Lo Mung-hung said when he reviewed the crime situation in the territory between January and June this year at a press conference on July 29.

During the period under review, a total of 34 034 cases of crime were recorded, an increase of 118 cases or 0.3 per cent over the same period of 2014, he added. Among them, 5 297 were violent crime cases, a decrease of 2.2 per cent compared with the corresponding period of 2014.

Mr Lo went on to say that crimes, including shop theft, deception, blackmail and rape, recorded rises in the first half of 2015. There were 4 961 shop theft cases in the first half of 2015, an increase of 15.3 per cent over the same period of 2014. The victims were mainly supermarkets, chain shops of health and beauty products, and convenience stores.

There were 4 875 cases of deception in the first six months of 2015, a rise of 11.5 per cent over the same period of 2014. The increase arose mainly from offences committed via the social media and telephone.

Social media deception cases doubled from 466 in the first half of 2014 to 940 this year, but monetary loss dropped by 33.5 per cent to $28.6 million.

Deception with new modus operandi

Mr Lo commented, "Offenders recently changed their modus operandi by hacking into other social media accounts, pretending to be friends of victims and asking for phone numbers. Victims were urged to receive some PIN codes, which were then used to steal the victims' instant message application accounts for deceiving their friends.

"Members of the public are advised to remain skeptical of messages from the Internet or social media. They should not disclose their personal details easily. Liaison work with relevant application providers will also continue whenever necessary in order to minimize security loopholes."

In the first half of 2015, Police received 1 370 reports of telephone deception, a rise of 16.3 per cent over the same period of 2014. Monetary loss amounted to $46.56 million, a 140-per-cent increase. "Detained Son" (929 cases), "Guess Who" (241 cases) and "Pretend Mainland Officials"' (200 cases) were three types of modus operandi. Among them, "Detained Son" and "Pretend Mainland Officials" cases marked a significant growth.

About 75 per cent of those cases were unsuccessful. Whilst the Force's education and publicity initiatives have made the public more vigilant, money exchange shops and remittance agencies proactively reminding victims have also contributed to preventing the latter from suffering losses.

"Recently, there was a significant increase in the 'Pretend Mainland Officials' scams. There were 200 such cases in the first half of 2015, an increase of 196 over the same period of 2014. From July 1 to 28, 729 reports were recorded, among which 263 cases were successful, with loss amounting to $82.5 million. Offenders pretending to be staff of express delivery companies accused victims of delivering illegal items and transferred the calls to another accomplice who pretended to be a Mainland public security or judiciary official. The victims were then told to prove their innocence by providing their personal details, or transferring money to designated Mainland bank accounts, or directly handing cash to accomplices posing as police officers. In some cases, the victims were even told to stay in hotels and cut off connection with other people to avoid arrest. In the meantime, their families were approached for ransom.

"We have set up a task force, which is now co-operating with the Mainland authorities to combat this kind of telephone deception and alert the public with all possible means. Members of the public are reminded to remain cautious upon receiving suspicious calls and being asked for their personal details. Express delivery companies, the Mainland government offices in Hong Kong or Hong Kong authorities will not transfer their telephone calls to Mainland public security departments. Mainland public security departments and the Mainland government offices in Hong Kong will not ask anyone to transfer money to prove one's innocence. Members of the public should report to the Police whenever in doubt," Mr Lo said.

Blackmail

In blackmail, there were 643 reports in the first six months of 2015, an increase of 221 cases over the same period of 2014 due to "Naked Chat" cases. "Naked Chat" cases rose to 506 in the first half of 2015, an increase of 60 per cent over the same period of 2014. Loss amounted to about $1.6 million, an increase of 33.3 per cent.

There were 41 rape cases in the first half of 2015, an increase of 19 cases over the corresponding period of 2014. Two cases involved strangers and nine cases were related to drunken victims. Thirty-nine cases were detected.

Crimes that have dropped

Mr Lo pointed out that the crimes that had dropped were miscellaneous theft (down 7.2 per cent), wounding and serious assault (down 6.5 per cent), domestic violence (crime) cases (down 16 per cent), serious drug cases (down 11.7 per cent), burglary (down 8.9 per cent), criminal intimidation (down 7.5 per cent), robbery (down 33 per cent) and indecent assault (down 9.8 per cent).

Referring to homicide and youth crimes, Mr Lo said there were 11 homicides in the first half of 2015, a decrease of two compared with the same period of 2014. Three cases involved domestic violence while two were committed by relatives. Eight cases were detected.

The downward trend of youths arrested for criminal offences continued. A total of 2 270 youths were arrested in the first half of 2015, a drop of 0.7 per cent compared with the same period of 2014. Most of them were arrested for shop theft, wounding and serious assault, miscellaneous theft, serious drug offences and unlawful society offences.

In conclusion, Mr Lo said the overall crime situation in Hong Kong remained stable in the first half of 2015.

"Police will continue to closely monitor the situation, and place corresponding emphasis on emerging crimes. Alertness and support of the public and relevant business sectors are also essential for preventing and combating these types of crimes. We appeal for co-operation by the community," he said.

Engaging community

Speaking at the same press conference, Director of Operations Lau Yip-shing reiterated that "Engaging the Community" has been one of the Force Strategic Directions for years. Amongst the various sectors of the community, the Force endeavours to strengthen engagement with the youth, the elderly and the Non-ethnic Chinese (NEC) with the hope public support for and co-operation with the Force would be enhanced for maintaining Hong Kong as one of the safest and most stable societies in the world.

In youth engagement, Mr Lau continued, the Force provided comprehensive training and various activities for teenagers through the Junior Police Call programme to help them develop their potential, set positive life goals 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 elders, raising their awareness of road safety and helping them offer volunteer services to the public. The SPC membership has increased from 2 330 in February 2014 to 4 970 in June 2015.

The Force has also organised various activities, including Project Gemstone and Project Himalaya, to help the NEC integrate into the community and improve their Chinese language proficiency. In the past year, 19 NEC having attended the programmes successfully joined the Force as Police Constables, Auxiliary Police Constables and Police Community Liaison Assistants.

In services for the NEC, the Force is implementing Project Translink in 10 police report rooms in districts with more NEC residents. Under the project, telephone interpretation services in seven common NEC languages are provided through teleconferencing in the report rooms.

Crimes committed by Mainland visitors

Referring to the crimes committed by Mainland visitors, Mr Lau said that from January to June in 2015, there were about 22.73 million Mainland visitor arrivals, a rise of about 1.04 million over the same period of 2014. Among them, 684 were arrested for committing criminal offences, a decrease of 41 compared with the same period of 2014. The main offences committed were shop theft, miscellaneous theft and deception.

From January to June this year, 2 060 Mainland visitors were arrested for involving in vice activities, a drop of 206 compared with the same period of last year. A total of 971 were arrested for involving in illegal employment, an increase of 338 over the same period last year.

"Police and other law enforcement agencies will continue adopting a 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.

Promoting road safety

Reviewing general road safety, Mr Lau said there were 7 818 traffic accidents in the first six months of 2015, representing a rise of 120 compared with the same period of 2014. 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 compared with the same period of 2014.

In the first half of 2015, there were 1 269 cycling related accidents, an increase of 65 compared with the same period of 2014. Around 804 accidents happened on cycling tracks, bicycle parks, playgrounds and open space, while 465 occurred on vehicle roads.

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

"To enhance road safety, Police will continue to take enforcement action against 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 messages of safe cycling by visiting community centres, bicycle shops and bicycle clubs. SPC members will also help promote road safety via their network and through various activities," Mr Lau concluded.