At a news conference on July 29, Director of Crime and Security Lee Ka-chiu and Director of Operations Koo Sii-hong reviewed the crime situation and police work in the first half of this year.

According to Mr Lee, the overall law and order situation in the period under review remained very stable with a slight increase in the overall crime and violent crime figures.

"There was a total of 7,146 cases of violent crime recorded in the last six months, a slight increase by 0.7 per cent when compared with 7,095 cases in the corresponding period last year."

Based on the number of cases, Mr Lee pointed out that the top three categories of violent crimes were serious assault (2,917 cases), followed by criminal intimidation (1,174 cases) and wounding (968 cases).

"The total number of serious assault and wounding cases in the first six months this year was 3,885, a rise of about 1.5 per cent when compared with the same period last year," said Mr Lee, adding that one of the main reasons for the increase in these cases was the rise in the number of cases caused by disputes involving alcohol, traffic accidents and work conflicts."

The majority of assault and wounding cases were caused by various kinds of disputes. Meanwhile, domestic violence cases accounted for 18 per cent, while triad related ones accounted for seven per cent.

"As regards criminal intimidation cases, a total of 1,174 cases were recorded in the first six months of this year, an increase of 23 per cent when compared with the corresponding period of last year. The majority of these cases were induced by disputes of different sorts.

"Among disputes of all sorts, money disputes accounted for 16 per cent; those involving relationships or affairs shared 24 per cent; disputes involving domestic violence 27 per cent, debt disputes about 20 per cent and triad related disputes about 3.7 per cent," he added.

Turning to homicide cases, Mr Lee said homicide cases increased from 21 to 27 during the first half of 2009. There was a fatal traffic accident claiming the lives of six people early this year and the driver was charged with six counts of manslaughter.

"If we put aside this incident, the figure of murder cases was 22, similar to 21 in the same period last year," he noted.

Mr Lee also pointed out that the number of robbery cases was 430 (down 22 per cent) in the first six months. This is a record low since the handover of sovereignty and there was no cases involving genuine firearms.

He said that during the first half of this year, a total of 1,117 cases related to triad offences were recorded, a drop of eight per cent. Triad related cases accounted for 2.9 per cent of the overall crime figure, a downward trend since the climax of 3.9 per cent in 1997.

"Quick Cash" crimes totalled 15,674 cases (down 1.6 per cent) in the first half of this year. Whilst overall "Quick Cash" crimes dropped slightly, there was a noticeable increase in pickpocketing (up 12 per cent) and shop theft (up 20 per cent).

"As such, the Police will continue to monitor the impact of the financial tsunami," Mr Lee said.

Regarding the fight against trafficking in and abuse of dangerous drugs, Mr Lee said over the past six months, a total of 1,529 serious narcotics cases were detected and 1,941 persons were arrested for serious narcotics offences, an increase of two and five per cent respectively when compared with the same period last year.

"Cases involving psychotropic drugs increased by four per cent, with Ketamine increasing by eight per cent and cocaine dropping by nine per cent," he said.

In respect of youth drug abuse, a total of 609 youngsters were arrested for serious narcotics offences in the first six months of this year, a rise of nine per cent compared with the same period last year. Over 90 per cent of them were involved in psychotropic drugs.

In view of the abundant supply of dangerous drugs in the global market as well as the existent demand in Hong Kong, the Police will focus on combating drug related crimes in the second half of the year.

On the enforcement side, Mr Lee said the Police would continue to proactively collect intelligence for analysis, raid drug black spots, strengthen co-operation with overseas and Mainland counterparts to interdict incoming drug supply, conduct financial investigations with a view to confiscating drug proceeds, and apply for enhancing sentencing of drug traffickers.

In the first half of 2009, the number of domestic violence crime cases was 1,193, representing a rise of four per cent as compared with the same period last year.

Mr Lee said the Police reckoned that early identification of problematic families, early intervention, timely support and appropriate referrals are the most effective ways to prevent aggravation of such violence.

"To this end, the Police have enhanced the computer system of the Domestic Violence Database to broaden the scope of search and storage to include those incidents of problematic faimilies but yet to involve violence," he said.

"We categorise those incidents as domestic incidents. The investigating officers will be alerted by an enhanced system of the inherent risk if there were two incidents concerning the same family within a period of time."

"The Police have strengthened the procedures and strategies in dealing with domestic violence seriously. It is hoped that the enhanced alerting system, appropriate and prompt assistance will be provided to the needy families," he added.

Stringent enforcement against illegal road racing

He said illegal road racing was a serious offence and persons participating in this kind of acts endangered other road users.

"In the first half of 2009, the Police have mounted 218 anti-illegal road racing operations," said Mr Koo, adding that upon receipt of complaints of illegal road racing from the public, officers would be deployed to the scene to collect information and evidence.

"Under safe circumstances, arrest action may be taken," he stressed.

Turning to enhancement of road safety, Mr Koo said there were 6,754 traffic accidents in the first six months, a decrease of 581 cases (down 7.9 per cent) when compared with the 7,335 cases in the same period last year.

The number of both fatal traffic accidents and death caused by traffic accidents registered a drop of 10.5 per cent and 20.2 per cent respectively during the periods in comparison. The number of fatal traffic accidents decreased by eight from 76 in the same period last year to 68 this year while that of traffic fatalities also decreased by 19 from 94 in the same period last year to 75 this year.

The overall traffic enforcement actions taken totalled 601,530 in the first half of 2009, representing a decrease of 1.4 per cent when compared with the 610,110 in the same period last year. Enforcement actions were mainly targeted at offences that caused or would possibly cause traffic accidents.

Mr Koo pointed out that there had been a significant drop in the number of drink driving cases and traffic accidents involving drink driving since implementation of Random Breath Test (RBT) on February 9, 2009. Between February and June this year, the number of drink driving cases decreased by 40 per cent (from 617 to 373) and traffic accidents decreased by 67 per cent (from 304 to 101) compared with the same period in 2008.

"The RBT operations have created a deterrent effect and our action will continue," Mr Koo said.

Turning to the issue of illegal immigrants, Mr Koo said the trend of Mainland illegal immigrants (IIs) was decreasing steadily in the first six months of 2009 with a total of 956 IIs arrested, representing a decrease of 262 IIs over the 1,218 IIs in the same period last year.

He said a total of 97 Mainland IIs were arrested for criminal offences from January to June this year, a decrease of 14 over the 111 in the same period last year. The main offences committed by them were forgery, theft and immigration offences. In addition, 90 female IIs were arrested for prostitution, a decrease of 70 over the 160 arrested for such offence in the same period of last year.

In the first six months of this year, a total of 255 Vietnamese illegal immigrants (VIIs) were arrested, a decrease of 90 over the 345 VIIs arrested in the same period last year. A total of 101 of them were arrested for committing crimes, a decrease of 69 over the 170 in the same period last year. The main offences committed by them were forgery, theft and immigration offences.

"A total of 600 non-ethnic Chinese illegal immigrants (NEC IIs) were arrested between January and June this year, a decrease of 72 over the 672 NEC IIs arrested in the same period last year," he continued.

Twenty-one of these NEC IIs were arrested for committing crimes, a decrease of 13 over the 34 in the same period last year. The main offences committed by them were using ID card relating to another and serious immigration offences.

Regarding the crimes committed by Mainland visitors (MVs), Mr Koo said from January to June in 2008, there were 8.14 million MVs, of whom 638 were arrested for committing criminal offences, a decrease of 67 when compared with the 705 in the same period last year. The main offences committed by the MVs were theft, forgery and serious immigration offences.

Between January and June this year, 1,687 MVs were arrested for involvement in prostitution, representing an 8.4 per cent increase when compared with the 1,556 in the same period last year.

For the past six months, the Force has taken a series of actions with other departments and arrested 922 illegal Mainland workers, which represented a decrease of 1.2 per cent with the 933 in the same period last year.

Mr Koo said that the decreasing trend of the overall illegal immigrants (IIS) was attributed to the continuous focus on the interdiction and enhancement of the security measures on both land and sea boundaries. In addition, the enhancement of intelligence and further co-operation with the Mainland showed the effectiveness in combatting IIs.

Police will continue to take rigorous and effective enforcement actions to combat illegal entry activities and maintain close liaison as well as exchange information with Hong Kong, the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies, to monitor the situation closely and fight these activities vigorously.

At Police Headquarters on July 30, Commissioner Tang King-shing and his senior staff briefed the chairpersons of the 18 District Fight Crime Committees on the overall law and order situation in the first six months of this year