Commissioner Mr Tsang Yam-pui giving his speech to members of the Foreign Correspondents' Club

Mr Tsang explained that when he was in Sydney earlier in the year he had drawn attention to the "amazing paradox that has underlined Hong Kong's development since 1997. We have witnessed Hong Kong jealously guarding its 'uniqueness', self-administration and status as a separate entity on the one hand, while at the same time it has sought to claim its place as a major player within the process of the socio-economic integration occurring within the Pearl River Delta.

"Underpinning what still appears to some people to be a contradictory relationship between Hong Kong and the Mainland, we have seen that the strategies employed by both private and public sector organisations in Hong Kong continue to shift their focus to meet the challenges raised by the socio-economic mesh now being woven.

"As an organisation, the Hong Kong Police Force has had its part to play. Through force of circumstance the Force has been required to forge increasingly closer links and cooperation with our Mainland law enforcement counterparts. This has enabled us to not only maintain safety and stability on our streets but also preserve Hong Kong's unique image for low crime and good public order," he said.

"I have also been exceptionally pleased to see how far we have come in terms of developing channels for exchanging criminal intelligence, cross-training, joint research programmes as well as in sharing best practice.

"One of the priorities for the Force in recent years has been to combat serious and violent crimes and in particular those which involve the use of genuine firearms. It is in this area that our close working relationship and exchange of intelligence with our Mainland counterparts has been particularly important and has resulted in our ability to restrict instances of such crime to a very satisfactory level.

"The importance of our success in gun crime cannot be overstated and indeed this achievement mirrors successes in many other areas, such as drug trafficking and a variety of cross-boundary economic crimes."

However, Mr Tsang conceded that there had been a noticeable increase in the volume of overall crime in the first six months of the year in comparison to the same period in 2002. "What is vital, however, is that we have continued to succeed in curbing the majority of priority, serious crimes. This is very encouraging. The number of homicides, kidnappings, rapes, indecent assaults, serious narcotics offences, missing vehicles and triad-related crimes were all down. Particularly encouraging has been the significant decrease in the number of robberies, which dropped to a daily average of only eight cases, the lowest daily return recorded since 1970.

"There has been a clear and significant increase recorded in categories of crime that involve a common element of violence. Offences include instances of serious assaults, criminal damage, criminal intimidation, assault against police, resisting arrest, as well as disorderly conduct/fighting in a public place.

"So," Mr Tsang challenged, "has there really been the deterioration in crime within Hong Kong that so many anticipated would follow our return to Chinese sovereignty? Are the increases seen in certain areas of crime a result of the process of enhanced integration with the Mainland? Of course, crime patterns fluctuate from day to day, month to month, year to year. A consistent, and more realistic impression of the situation can only be formed by crime trends reviewed over a longer period than 12 months."

Comparisons are reassuring

Mr Tsang explained that he recently called for a review of crime statistics for the decade 1992 through to last year - a period which embraces the socio-political changes surrounding the latter years of British administration, the run up to the Handover, the Handover itself and of course the establishment of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of China.

"If we are looking to find evidence of a deteriorating crime situation in Hong Kong and a correlation between it and the rapid moves towards greater integration with the Mainland after 1997, the cold facts and figures point to a dramatically different picture.

"If we were to take and compare the general trends for key crime areas in the five years before, and then five years after the Handover, what would this reveal? The results are quite dramatic. Rather than a deterioration we see the opposite. Overall Crime, down 13.9 per cent; Violent Crime, down 15.2 per cent; Rape, down 10 per cent; Burglary, down 30 per cent; Murder, down 22.7 per cent; Robbery, down 47.2 per cent; and, Robbery with Firearms, down 57.9 per cent."

These are significant achievements, he explained, because they occurred against a backdrop of increased cross-boundary traffic, particularly in the numbers of Mainland visitors.

"The rise in Two Way Permit holder arrivals since 1997 has been particularly dramatic: 500,000 that year rising to 4.4 million in 2002. The number of Mainland visitors arrested for crime increased from 749 to 1,860 in this period."

Mr Tsang assured the journalists that he was not being complacent. "In April this year," he said, "the Force took one of its most proactive steps to date in the area of cross-boundary crime. An Inter-departmental Task Force under the chairmanship of the Hong Kong Police Force was established. The Task Force comprises representatives from directly involved disciplined services, as well as the Labour, Lands and Food & Environmental Hygiene Departments. Its role is to target two-way permit holders involved in crime and other illegal activities by liaising directly with Mainland issuing authorities in order to impose effective, stringent controls on the application process of Two Way Permits. It also seeks to establish means to bolster effective screening of those coming in at Hong Kong Immigration control points, as well as to develop strategies for enhancing street level enforcement against illegal activities.

"Of course, there will be further challenges ahead of us as our socio-economic exchanges with the Mainland grow. But Hong Kong will meet the new challenges in the same way it has always met new challenges." He concluded: "Well-trained, dedicated, professional officers will always find the way to ensure that the Force continues to effectively serve with pride and care the community that puts its trust in us."

Serving with pride and care the community that puts its trust in us