Battle against 'quick cash' crimes in full swing
Last year, theft and deception cases took up more than half of the overall crime figure in Hong Kong, with the highest number of victims, most of whom were victims of "quick cash" crimes. Moreover, theft and deception cases were on the rise and the modus operandi was changing. To support Commissioner's Operational Priorities, Wanchai District has set up a Special Duty Team (SD Team) to combat pick-pocketing, snatching, theft, street deception and other miscellaneous crimes in the district.
To enhance public awareness and enlist community support, Wanchai Divisional Commander, Superintendent (SP) Wong Koon-ho, and Officer-in-Charge of the SD Team, Sergeant (Sgt) Kwong Sze-yeung, as well as team members not only analyse crime trends but also actively liaise with and get to know all walks of life in the district. They regularly exchange crime information and intelligence with the hotels in Wan Chai; meet and work closely with credit card centres, banks, chain stores, shopping arcades and supermarkets to disseminate crime prevention messages to make them more alert to bogus credit cards.
The SD Team hopes this approach would help achieve its goals through prevention, education, collaboration, response and action; bolster public confidence in the police; and establish a two-way communication platform to exchange information and collect crime intelligence.
Figures show that the related cases reported in Wan Chai from January to July this year have recorded a sharp drop when compared with the same period last year, successfully curbing "quick cash" crimes. The number of pick-pocketing dropped to 76 cases from 122 cases last year and miscellaneous theft to 680 cases from 774 cases, while street deception and snatching cases remained unchanged - one and 13 respectively.
After the SD Team was set up, concerted efforts were made to enhance co-operation between the public and police through meetings, discussions, direct hotlines and provision of crime information. All these initiatives helped combat crimes and detect cases. Citing an example, Sgt Kwong said: "On May 22, a hotel in Wan Chai made a report to police that the property and luggage of customers were stolen every now and then. Having analysed this case, my team advised the hotel to make sure customers would not stay at the blind spots of CCTV. The hotel accepted our advice and so far no similar cases have happened."
The hotel later sent a letter to thank SD Team for its assistance and advice, and so did some shop owners and organisations for providing a safe environment for the residents, students and working class in Wan Chai.
(Editor's note: The letter from the hotel is published in Appreciation Corner.)
Members
of the SD Team are greatly encouraged by the favourable feedback on
their battle against "quick cash" crimes