Mr Lo, flanked by Deputy Commissioner (Management) Chau Kwok-leung (right) and Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Wong Chi-hung, also answers many questions from media representatives

The overall law and order situation in Hong Kong remained stable in 2015 with a decrease of 1.9 per cent in the overall crime compared with 2014, Commissioner Lo Wai-chung said when he reviewed the crime situation at a press conference on January 26.

He pointed out that the overall crime figures dropped to 66 439 cases, a decrease of 1.9 per cent compared with 67 740 cases in 2014, a new low since 1979. The crime rate calculated in number of crimes per 100 000 population stood at 910 cases, again a new low in the past 43 years.

A total of 10 889 cases of violent crime were recorded last year, a drop of about 1.7 per cent and marking a new low since 1971. The crimes with cases on a downward trend and those with drops of more than 10 per cent included robbery (down 27.8 per cent), homicide (down 18.5 per cent), arson (down 14 per cent), domestic violence crimes (down 12.3 per cent) and miscellaneous theft (down 11 per cent).

The crimes with cases on the rise included blackmail (up 54.4 per cent), rape (up 25 per cent), triad-related crimes (up 10.3 per cent), shop theft (up 8.1 per cent), deception (up 5.6 per cent) and serious drug offences (up 1.9 per cent).

A total of 9 353 deception cases were reported in 2015, an increase of 5.6 per cent compared with 2014. The increase was mainly brought about by the rises in telephone deception and social media deception.

In telephone deception, there were 2 880 cases in 2015, an increase of 29.7 per cent. The rate of unsuccessful attempts was around 70 per cent. The pecuniary loss rose to around $317.95 million, compared with 2014. There were 1 422 social media deception cases in 2015, an increase of 183 cases or 14.8 per cent, but the pecuniary loss decreased by around 15 per cent to about $60 million.

The rise of telephone deception was solely driven by "pretend mainland officials" case. There were 1 423 reported cases in 2015, compared with 23 cases in 2014. The pecuniary loss rose to around $291.98 million.

Despite a small improvement in the crime situation, such scams still caused concerns. Police will continue to monitor the trend in neighbouring cities and work on publicity for the vulnerable sectors to enhance their awareness, including residents and visitors.

Police will also strengthen enforcement action to combat such cross-boundary crimes through intelligence exchange, co-operation and operations with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies.

Mr Lo pointed out that no matter in telephone deception or social media deception, the fraudsters might change their modus operandi or excuses from time to time, but their motive remained the same. Therefore the public should stay alert and report to the Police whenever in doubt.

There were 1 366 reported cases of blackmail in 2015, a rise of 481 cases due to "naked chat". A total of 1 098 "naked chat" cases were reported in 2015, an increase of about 72 per cent. The pecuniary loss rose by 52 per cent to around $3.5 million.

Twenty blackmail cases were associated with "distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack", an increase of 19 cases compared with 2014. All the cases involved commercial organisations and only one company incurred actual loss of about $60,000.

"The Cyber Security Centre of the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau monitors the flow of data of critical infrastructures round the clock so as to identify possible attacks as soon as possible and inform the organisations for immediate response.

"We have already sent our representative to the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) that was established in Singapore last year for co-ordinating the battle with cross-boundary technology crimes. We will proactively leverage on the platform of the IGCI to step up collaboration and exchanges with overseas law enforcement agencies to tackle 'naked chat', 'DDoS' and other regional and global technology crimes," said Mr Lo.

Triad-related offences

There were 1 812 triad-related crimes in 2015, a rise of 169 cases or 10.3 per cent over 2014, mainly involving wounding and serious assault and unlawful society offences.

In serious drug offences, there were 1 891 cases in 2015, an increase of 36. While cases related to Ice, cocaine and heroin were on the rise, decrease was recorded in cases of ketamine and cannabis.

In 2015, 2 537 people were arrested for serious drug offences (up 4.7 per cent), including 399 youths (down 10.3 per cent). Police will continue to proactively deter exploitation of youths for drug trafficking.

There were 70 rape cases in 2015, an increase of 14 cases or 25 per cent over 2014. All cases were detected. Cases involving victims aged below 16 increased from nine to 20. Police will continue to step up publicity to make adolescents more aware of protecting themselves from sexual assault.

Cases on decrease

As regards cases on the decrease, there were 22 homicides in 2015, a drop of five cases from 27 cases in 2014. Four cases involved domestic violence and six were committed by relatives. Nineteen cases were detected.

In wounding and serious assault, there were 5 360 cases in 2015 (down 4.8 per cent).

There were 223 robbery cases in 2015, a drop of 27.8 per cent compared with 2014 and marking a record low since 1969. Only one case involved genuine firearms and was detected.

In 2015, 2 579 burglary cases were recorded, a decrease of 4.5 per cent and the lowest record since 1970.

Indecent assault cases totalled 1 068 in 2015, a decrease of 47 cases compared with 2014 and marking a record low since 2004. Cases reported in public transport and related places decreased (238 cases, down 7 per cent), with around 50 per cent (123 cases) occurring within MTR areas.

There were 1 464 criminal cases of domestic violence in 2015, a decrease of 12.3 per cent compared with 2014. There were 548 domestic violence miscellaneous cases (down 12 per cent) and 11 733 cases of domestic incidents not involving violence and being minor in nature (up 1.9 per cent).

In 2015, 33 778 persons were arrested for criminal offences, an increase of 99 compared with 2014. The number of youths arrested for criminal offences dropped further to 4 135 (down 4.4 per cent), which is the lowest since 1989.

Strategic Directions

The Commissioner also took the opportunity to introduce the Strategic Directions and Strategic Action Plan 2016-2018 of the Force.

"To ensure that Hong Kong remains one of the safest and most stable societies in the world, and that the Force can still perform its duties efficiently and provide excellent services under an ever changing environment, we have devised the Strategic Directions and Strategic Action Plan 2016-2018 to guide the Force to meet future challenges," he noted.

The four strategic directions of the Plan are engaging the community; enhancing personal and professional qualities of force members; strengthening criminal intelligence gathering Force-wide; and supporting frontline units.

Police will continue to strengthen the relationship with all sectors of the community, particularly the media and young people. After the Fire Services Training School in Pat Heung has been relocated, Police will set up a Junior Police Call Permanent Activity Centre cum Integrated Youth Training Camp to provide discipline, physical and team-building training for youths so as to inculcate in them awareness of crime prevention and sense of social responsibility and leadership.

For enhancing the overall performance and professional qualities of police officers, Police will foster a strong sense of self-esteem and confidence, especially through the support and appreciation from the public.

Police will also enhance intelligence-gathering capability to combat cyber crimes and establish a standing mechanism to support the frontline.

The Commissioner's Operational Priorities for 2016 cover violent crime, triads, syndicated and organised crime, dangerous drugs, quick cash crime, cyber security and technology crime, public safety and terrorism.

In conclusion, Mr Lo said, "The overall law and order situation in Hong Kong is satisfactory with the overall crime rate maintained at a low level, compared with metropolis of a similar degree of development like Singapore, Tokyo, New York, Paris, London and Toronto."

Researches published by a number of think tanks and international organisations have all demonstrated that the law and order situation in Hong Kong is satisfactory and recognised the efforts of the Force.

According to the "Prosperity Index" published by Legatum Institute of the United Kingdom in 2015, Hong Kong ranked top in the "Safety and Security Indicator" among 142 countries and regions for three consecutive years. Besides, Hong Kong ranked sixth among 140 countries and regions in the "Reliability of Police Services Indicator" of the Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016 published by the World Economic Forum. Hong Kong was also rated seventh in the "Order and Security Indicator" among the 102 countries and regions in the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index for 2014-2015.

"I wish to extend my gratitude to our Force members for their efforts over the past year and members of the public for their full support and collaboration, which enable us to achieve good law and order."

Based on the crime situation in 2015, it is expected that the Force would continue to face the threats of technology or cross-boundary crimes.

"Apart from strengthening our own capability, we will continue to foster co-operation with other law enforcement agencies, step up publicity to heighten public awareness of maintaining our low crime rate and ensure that Hong Kong remains a safe and stable city," Mr Lo said.