Compile a list of international cities where personal and public safety are taken for granted. It would be short - but Hong Kong should be there!

Reports made by Director of Crime and Security Lau Chun-sing and Director of Operations Ng Wai-kit at a press conference held on July 27 confirmed this.

Overall crime and violent crime reports dropped by eight and 12.1 per cent to 36,034 and 6,683 cases respectively in the first six months of the year compared with the corresponding period last year.

The overall crime rate per 100,000 population also recorded a 9.4 per cent decrease when compared with the first six months last year.

Mr Lau also highlighted other crimes including those involving the use of genuine firearms, the emergence of Mainland visitors involved in street deception and debt-collecting malpractice, emphasising police efforts to tackle these crimes.

"Police enforcement priority focuses on four areas," emphasised Mr Lau. "These are juvenile crime, the abuse of psychotropic drugs, organised crime and triads, and computer crime. Police are always committed and strive to provide quality service in maintaining law and order in Hong Kong."

Reinforcing this position, Mr Ng stated that the Police were committed to continually striving for excellence with regard to services provided to the public.

"Several measures were taken to better frontline policing in the first six months of this year," said Mr Ng. "These included the introduction of a Police Panda Car pilot scheme in New Territories North, the flexible deployment of Police Tactical Unit officers, and the introduction of a pilot scheme to equip frontline Police officers with mobile phones."

The operational efficiency of the Police would get a further boost when the third-generation command and control communication system (CC ¢») went live in 2004, the D OPS promised.

Reviewing Police efforts in handling public meetings and processions, Mr Ng said that Police handled 608 public meetings and 487 public processions in the first six months of this year.

"With the assistance of Police, most of these events were conducted smoothly and participants could exercise their right to gather and express their views. Only a few protestors at the Fortune Global Forum in May took a radical approach resulting in the arrest of 11 people."

Turning to illegal immigration, Mr Ng pledged that enforcement action in that area would remain one of the priorities of the Force.

Emphasising the ongoing commitment of the Force to the youth of Hong Kong, Mr Ng said that Police had organised a number of anti-youth crime projects with other agencies and created 33 School Liaison Officer posts to work closely with all secondary schools to co-ordinate the efforts of relevant parties concerned to prevent students from criminal involvement."



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