Though the overall crime rate in the first half of this year recorded an increase of 2.3 per cent, the law and order situation remained stable, according to Director of Crime and Security Lee Ka-chiu.

Speaking at a news conference on July 24 to review the crime situation between January and June this year, Mr Lee said: "During the period, a total of 40,357 cases were recorded, representing an increase of 2.3 per cent over the 39,433 cases in the first half of last year."

A total of 7,364 cases of violent crime were recorded in the last six months, a 3.8 per cent increase compared with the 7,091 cases in the corresponding period last year.

Mr Lee pointed out that the top four categories of violent crimes were serious assault (3,104 cases), followed by criminal intimidation (991 cases), wounding (822 cases) and indecent assault (669 cases).

Serious assault noted a rise of 166 cases (up 4.2 per cent), whereas wounding recorded a slight reduction of eight cases.

Mr Lee explained that the main reason for the increase in serious assault and wounding cases was a rise in cases of domestic violence. The majority of assault and wounding cases arose from various kinds of disputes, accounting for 70.5 per cent of the total. Meanwhile, domestic violence cases accounted for 21 per cent, while those related to triad societies accounted for 5.9 per cent only.

As regard criminal intimidation, a total of 991 cases were recorded in the first six months of this year, a rise of 243 cases (up 32.5 per cent) compared with the corresponding period of last year. Among them, over 60 per cent were induced by different sorts of disputes.

Mr Lee said it was worth noting that there was a drop in some violent crime cases, including robbery and homicide. Robbery dropped by 222 cases (down 25.2 per cent) to 658 cases. Among all categories of robbery cases, the largest reduction was noted in robbery with genuine firearms or stun guns (down 66.7 per cent), where the number of cases of robbery with genuine firearms is zero, followed by robbery with pistol-like object (down 56.3 per cent).

"In the first six months of this year, there were six cases of bank robbery, which is also a tremendous drop compared with the 20 cases in the same period last year. Besides, a total of five pistols were seized during the first six months, a slight increase compared with three pistols in the same period last year. As for homicide, eight cases were recorded in the first six months of this year, half of the figure recorded in the corresponding period of last year," he noted.

Mr Lee also pointed out that the Force had achieved satisfactory results in fighting triad activities and serious narcotics cases. Over the past six months, a number of intelligence-led and undercover operations were mounted against triad target personnel and activities in order to deal a severe blow to their financial sources. The most significant one was the operation codenamed "Thunderbolt", a tripartite anti-triad operation conducted by the Force in conjunction with the Guangdong and Macao law enforcement agencies in June.

The operation resulted in the arrest of 1,588 persons and smashing of 19 gambling dens and 37 vice establishments. In addition, a large quantity of dangerous drugs, pirated optical discs, marked oil, illicit cigarettes and faked goods were seized.

Regarding the fight against trafficking in and abuse of dangerous drugs, Mr Lee said over in the past six months, a total of 1,400 serious narcotics cases were detected and 1,763 persons were arrested, an increase of 37.5 and 38.4 per cent respectively compared with the same period last year.

"Cases involving psychotropic drugs increased by 55.9 per cent, with Ketamine and Cocaine having gone up by 160 per cent and 52 per cent respectively," he said.

In respect of youth drug abuse, a total of 403 offenders aged below 21 were arrested for serious narcotics offences in the first six months of this year, almost double the 204 arrests in the same period last year. Of these young offenders, over 90 per cent were involved with psychotropic substances.

In the first half of this year, 3,702 domestic violence reports were recorded, a 100 per cent increase over the 1,834 cases in the same period last year. Of this year's reports, 1,253 involved criminal elements, an increase of 511 cases compared with the same period last year. There were 2,449 reports of non-crime cases, representing an increase of 1,357 cases compared with the same period last year.

"Police will continue to stress the importance of handling domestic violence cases to ensure that every case will be dealt with in a proper way. By co-operating with various agencies, including government and non-governmental organisations, and by means of a multi-disciplinary approach, we hope that education, prevention and support services would be strengthened," Mr Lee added.

Major policing work

Also speaking at the news conference, Director of Operations Tsang Wai-hung said that although the number of illegal immigrants (IIs) arrested was on a steady decline in the past few years, 1,543 IIs were arrested in the first six months of 2007, representing an increase of 89 IIs over the 1,454 IIs in the same period last year.

Mr Tsang said a total of 191 Mainland IIs were arrested for criminal offences from January to June this year, a decrease of 57 over the 248 in the same period last year.

In the first six months of this year, a total of 293 Vietnamese illegal immigrants (VIIs) were arrested, an increase of eight over the 285 VIIs arrested in the same period last year. Among them 154 were arrested for committing crimes, an increase of 22 over the 132 in the same period last year. The main offences committed were forgery, theft and immigration offences.

"We have been taking rigorous and effective law enforcement action to combat illegal entry and maintaining close liaison as well as exchanging information with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies. The Force will continue to monitor the situation closely with the Mainland agencies and work in co-ordination to tackle these activities," he noted.

Regarding the crimes committed by Mainland visitors (MVs), Mr Tsang said there were seven million MV arrivals from January to June in 2007, of whom 612 were arrested for committing criminal offences, a decrease of 219 compared with the 831 in the same period. The main offences were theft, forgery and serious immigration offences.

Between January and June this year, 1,576 MVs were arrested for involvement in prostitution, a 49 per cent decrease compared with the 3,064 in the same period last year. The decline was mainly due to the strengthened co-operation between the Force and Mainland authorities, imposing a stringent application process for Two-way Permits, rejecting entry of suspicious persons and conducting more raids.

In the past six months, the Force mounted a series of operations with other departments and arrested 1,185 illegal Mainland workers, a 46.1 per cent decrease compared with the 2,197 in the same period last year.

On enhancement of road safety, Mr Tsang said there were 7,310 traffic accidents in the first six months of this year, a slight increase of 0.7 per cent over the 7,262 in the same period last year.

Fatal traffic accidents and deaths caused by traffic accidents registered an increase of 20.3 per cent and 19.4 per cent respectively during the periods in comparison. Fatal traffic accidents increased by 12 from 59 in the same period last year to 71 this year, while traffic fatalities also increased by 12 from 62 in the same period last year to 74 this year.

The overall traffic enforcement action taken totalled 619,084 cases in the first half year of 2007, an increase of 13 per cent compared with the 548,166 in the same period last year. Enforcement action was mainly targetted at offences which caused or would possibly cause traffic accidents.

"The Force will continue to work closely with other government departments, road safety stakeholders and the community through publicity, education and law enforcement so as to further enhance road safety in Hong Kong," he said.

Mr Tsang also said the Force was working closely with the Equestrian Company, other government departments and relevant stakeholders to ensure the smooth running and success of the Good Luck Beijing - HKSAR 10th Anniversary Cup and the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Equestrian Events.

On the anti-terrorism front, Mr Tsang said at present, Hong Kong's terrorist threat assessment level remained "moderate". The threat assessment for "Good Luck Beijing - HKSAR 10th Anniversary Competition was also at the same level.

Mr Tsang pointed out that counter-terrorism was one of the Operational Priorities of the Commissioner in 2007. The main tactics included maintenance of effective intelligence exchanges with both the Mainland and overseas security and law enforcement agencies, timely intelligence and threat assessments and maintaining the Force's level of coverage and operational readiness commensurate with the prevailing threat level.

"The Force will conduct regular exercises of various scales and nature to hone the relevant contingency plans as well as to enhance its counter-terrorist capability and co-ordination efficiency.

"We will also maintain the awareness of the public and the stakeholders to assist the Force in combating terrorism," he added.

Both Mr Lee and Mr Tsang take many questions from the floor during their news conference