Police will not tolerate illegal road racing
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Police will not tolerate illegal road racing and will continue to take stringent enforcement actions against this kind of illegal and irresponsible acts.

The remarks was made by the Director of Operations, Mr Koo Sii-hong, today (July 29) at a press conference to review the work of the Police in the first half of 2009.

Mr Koo said that illegal road racing was a serious offence and persons participating in this kind of acts endangered the lives of other road users.

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

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

Turning to the 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 7,335 cases in the same period last year.

Both the number of 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 8 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 610,110 in the same period last year. Enforcement actions were mainly targeted at offences which caused or would possibly cause traffic accidents.

Mr Koo pointed out there had been a significant drop in the number of drink driving cases and traffic accidents involving drink driving since the implementation of Random Breath Test (RBT) on February 9, 2009. Between February and June 2009, 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) as 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 for the first six months of 2009 and a total of 956 IIs were arrested, representing a decrease of 262 IIs over 1,218 IIs in the same period last year.

He said that a total of 97 Mainland IIs were arrested for criminal offences from January to June this year, a decrease of 14 over 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 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 345 VIIs arrested in the same period last year. 101 of them were arrested for committing crimes, a decrease of 69 over 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 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 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 MV arrivals, of which 638 were arrested for committing criminal offences, a decrease of 67 when compared with 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 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 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 boundary. In addition, the enhancement of intelligence and further co-operation with the Mainland showed the effectiveness in combating the IIs.

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

Police Report No. 6
Issued by PPRB

Ends/Wednesday, July 29, 2009
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