Western District (WDIST) has formed a working group to tackle youth crime. The Chairman of the Southern District Fight Crime Committee, Mr Ko Kam-cheung, officials from the Social Welfare Department and Education Bureau, and secondary school principals lent full support for this initiative by attending the working group's meeting.

Kicking off the meeting of the Youth Crime Working Group, Western District Deputy District Commander Chau Ping-sun listed the objectives of the event as follows:

* Examining from various perspectives the trend of crime involving the youths in WDIST;

* Introducing WDIST's strategies and plans for addressing the problem of youth crime, and

* Advancing the communication and liaison between the various units in WDIST and social workers engaged in youth work.

At the meeting, all parties voiced their opinions on juvenile delinquency, and grave concerns about drugs abuse as well as triad and gang activities. In response, WDIST Police Community Relations Officer Cheng Dien-kit detailed the activities organised for youths in the past year as well as those to be organised in the near future.

At the same time, the officer in charge of the District Investigation Section also reported on the trend of youth-related crime in WDIST. Members of the working group, however, were very pleased to see a 16.3 per cent drop in youth crime cases and a 28.5 per cent decrease in drug-related cases recorded in the period from January to August this year, compared with the same period last year. They all agreed that the multi-agency approach for fighting youth crime worked effectively.

Wrapping up the meeting, Mr Chau stressed that combating illicit drug trafficking, drug abuse and triad-related activities are the prime objectives of the Force, and all officers would go an extra mile to maintain close liaison with other government departments, non-governmental organisations and schools to ensure that education, prevention and enforcement would effectively address youth problems.

A useful meeting in progress