The overall law and order situation in Hong Kong in the first six months of 2018 remained stable, with a decrease of 6.2 per cent in the overall crime figure over the same period in 2017. Director of Operations Tang Ping-keung and Director of Crime and Security Li Chi-hang made remarks about the situation in Hong Kong at a press conference on July 25.

Speaking at the press conference, Mr Li said a total of 26 550 cases of crime were recorded during the period, representing a decrease of 1 759 cases or 6.2 per cent over the corresponding period of last year, hitting a new low since 1977, when half-year crime statistics were first kept.

A total of 4 361 violent crime cases were recorded in the first half of this year, a decrease of 3.2 per cent when compared with the same period of last year.

A decrease was seen in majority of the crimes whilst crimes recorded an increase included homicide, wounding and serious assault, indecent assault and deception.

Homicide, wounding & serious assault, indecent assault

There were 17 homicide cases in the first half of 2018, a rise of six cases over the same period of last year. All cases were detected. Most of the cases arose from family disputes and couple relationship. A double murder case committed with genuine firearm has aroused grave concern in society.

Currently, there is no indication of worsening situation in regard to genuine gun crimes or inflow of firearms. Nevertheless, the Police will always remain alert, maintain close contact with relevant departments, and spare no effort to look into every single case and intelligence involving firearms in order to ensure the safety of members of the public and society.

A total of 2 316 cases of wounding and serious assault were recorded in the first half of this year, a rise of 82 cases. The rise was mainly driven by disputes caused by drunkenness and daily trivial matters. An increase was also noted for cases involving domestic violence, triad and debt collection activities.

There were 537 indecent assault cases in the first six months of 2018, an increase of 19 cases. Cases committed by strangers totalled 320, and cases in which the victims acquainted the offenders via the Internet increased by five cases to 15 cases.

Deception

For deception, 3 671 cases were reported, a rise of 110 cases or 3.1 per cent. There were 272 cases of romance scams, an increase of 2.5 folds; 69 cases of employment frauds, an increase of 3.3 folds; 90 cases of investment frauds, an increase of 70 per cent; and 382 cases of deception involving hacking of instant messaging applications, an increase of four folds. For telephone deception and street deception, 165 cases (a drop of 62.8 per cent) and 16 cases (a drop of 70.4 per cent) were recorded respectively.

The Police conducted multiple enforcement operations against investment frauds, employment frauds and online romance scams in the first half of this year and arrested a total of 109 persons in connection with these types of deception in which over 700 victims were defrauded, incurring over $253 million of loss in total.

The Police established the Anti-Deception Coordination Centre (ADCC) in July last year. As at June 30, the ADCC has received more than 22 000 calls for help, and intercepted over $530 million of payments in 288 deception cases in collaboration with banks.

"In view of the remarkable achievement of ADCC, the Police will strengthen its functions in various aspects, including intelligence analysis, interception of crime proceeds, anti-deception publicity, as well as collaboration with other stakeholders, with a view to preventing deception in a timely and effective manner," said Mr Li.

Rape, burglary, serious drug offences & robbery

Crimes with the number of cases dropped included rape, burglary, serious drug offences and robbery.

There were 23 rape cases in the first half year of 2018, down by nine cases over the same period of last year, and 20 cases were detected. Three cases were committed by strangers and eight cases involved victims aged under 16.

For burglary, there were 808 cases, a drop of 170 cases, marking a record low since half-year crime statistics were first kept in 1977. Around 70 per cent of the cases were committed at domestic premises.

In the first half of 2018, 732 serious drug cases were recorded, a drop of 104 cases or 12.4 per cent.

Mr Li pointed out that international collaboration was crucial to the interception of inflow of drugs to Hong Kong. As such, Hong Kong Police have maintained close liaison and intelligence exchange with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies.

Recent successful joint operations included the Mainland-Hong Kong joint operation in January, in which six persons were arrested by both sides in total for trafficking a ton of "ice" by sea. In a joint operation with the Australian police in May, four Hong Kong people were arrested in Australia and 200 kilogrammes of "ice" was seized.

In the first six months of 2018, there were 82 robbery cases, a decrease of 8.9 per cent over the same period of last year. The figure hit its lowest since half-year crime statistics were first kept in 1977. Over the period, there were four cases with a substantial amount of loss, including three jewellery store robberies and a case in which staff members of a money exchange company were robbed. Among them, three cases were detected with eight persons arrested and most of the lost property recovered.

To combat this type of robbery, the Police will step up patrol at high-risk spots, maintain swift response capabilities, maintain close liaison with relevant industries for possible enhancement of the security measures, and strengthen intelligence work, including collaboration with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies, to prevent and detect robbery cases, and neutralise related criminal syndicates.

Child abuse

As regards child abuse, 467 cases were recorded in the first half of the year, being an increase of 9.1 per cent. The rise was mainly driven by cases involving ill-treatment or neglect of child, which totalled 154 cases, an increase of 43 cases. Cases with serious casualties also increased.

The Police proactively work on publicity and education to enhance the society's alertness and identifying ability of these cases. Over the first half of this year, the Police organised a total of eight thematic seminars together with the Social Welfare Department and the Education Bureau for over 1 000 kindergarten, primary and secondary school teachers, staff members and social workers to help them identify and handle the cases.

Take precautions against terrorism threat

Also speaking at the press conference, Mr Tang said that Hong Kong, as an international financial centre and a transport and communications hub, should take precautions at all times against the threat of terrorism.

Mr Tang stated that there was no specific intelligence suggesting Hong Kong will be under attack. The Force has been keeping an eye on terrorist attacks around the globe, remaining alert all the time and making deployment in the light of the assessment of the current threat.

Besides maintaining close liaison with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement and intelligence agencies in exchange of intelligence and assessment of threat, the Police also conduct training and inter-departmental or multi-agency exercises regularly. The Force conducted 11 large-scale counter-terrorism exercises in the first six months of this year. Reinforced exercises will be conducted at the new major infrastructures in the second half of 2018.

The Inter-departmental Counter-terrorism Unit (ICTU), comprising officers from the Police and five other disciplined services, was set up in April this year.

"The ICTU will further enhance Hong Kong's counter-terrorism capability, and ensure the adequacy of our capability and preparedness to combat terrorism through improving counter-terrorism strategies, action plans, inter-departmental co-ordination, intelligence gathering and efforts in training and public education," said Mr Tang.

Enhancing road safety

On road safety, Mr Tang said there were 7 502 cases of traffic accident in the first half of this year, representing a decrease of four per cent as compared with the same period of last year. There were 62 cases of fatal traffic accident and 82 people were killed.

As driving inattentively is the prime contributory factor of traffic accidents, the Police have stepped up enforcement against relevant offences, including careless driving, speeding, disobeying traffic signals, drink driving or drug driving, and using a handheld telecommunications equipment while driving.

A number of major infrastructure projects, including the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point, will soon be completed.

"The Police are well prepared, putting in place corresponding measures in collaboration with other government departments. The Police will ensure the smooth functioning of the roads adjoining the infrastructures through enhancing inter-departmental collaboration, conducting well-planned exercises and effectively implementing traffic control measures," said Mr Tang.

Community engagement

On engaging the community, the Force garners continuous support from all sectors of the community through social media, youth engagement and various types of activities.

Police Facebook page and Instagram page have become important channels for disseminating Police information and crime prevention messages to the public and the media.

In view of a rising demand for electronic case reporting service and an increase in types of cases reported, the Force launched a new e-Report Centre in June to improve service quality and enhance case investigation efficiency.

The Junior Police Call (JPC) Scheme continues to serve as the major platform of the Force to nurture young people as leaders and partners in the combat against crime. It also provides its 4 000 ethnic minorities members with vocational training, foot drills and guided tours to different police formations and other disciplinary services with the aim of broadening their perspective and enhancing their sense of belonging. From the coming September, the eligibility age for the JPC Scheme will be lowered from nine to six, and more kids will be able to participate in JPC activities.

The JPC@Pat Heung, which was opened last August, is an important facility of the Force for promoting youth development and community engagement. Over 25 000 visitors have undergone training so far.

Conclusion

Mr Li said, "The law and order situation in the first half of 2018 remained stable. Deception, facilitated by the use of technology such as social media platforms, remains one of the biggest challenges of the Force in recent years. The criminals committed crimes by taking advantage of the extensive, anonymous and cross-boundary nature of the cyber world, and that the lack of knowledge of some people about emerging industries and information technology also allowed the criminals to convince victims to send money with various excuses.

"In the light of the recent crime trends, the Police will strengthen collaboration with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies, the innovation and technology as well as the financial and banking sectors, and continuously enhance the capability in detection and recovering the ill-gotten gains.

"The ADCC will enhance its capacity to identify the ever-changing modus operandi, strengthen intelligence capability and exchange with various stakeholders, and continuously adjust anti-deception strategies with a view to timely alerting members of the public of the latest pitfalls and fostering our partnership with the community in combating and preventing deception," Mr Li said.

Mr Tang concluded that with wide support from the community, the Force achieved positive results in the first half of 2018.