300 Public Order
different events held to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the HKSAR.
Crime
Reported crimes in 2007 totalled 80 796, a decrease of 0.4 per cent compared with 81 125 in 2006. The crime rate stood at 1 167 cases per 100 000 population, a drop of 1.4 per cent compared with 1 183 in 2006. The decrease in crimes was mainly due to a decline in robberies, burglaries and thefts.
During the year, the number of violent crimes increased to 14 934, a rise of 0.6 per cent compared with 14 847 in 2006. Criminal intimidation, wounding and serious assaults accounted for 67.2 per cent of total violent crimes in 2007. There were notable decreases in the relatively more serious violent crimes such as homicide, robbery, blackmail and arson.
In all, there were 1 216 robberies in 2007, a drop of 22.7 per cent compared to 1 574 in 2006. There were no robberies with firearms, compared with one in 2006. There were eight bank robberies, a drop of 15 compared with 23 in 2006. Most of these crimes were committed by lone robbers.
The number of burglaries decreased from 5 315 in 2006 to 4 512 in 2007, a drop of 15.1 per cent, while thefts fell from 37 089 in 2006 to 36 762 in 2007, down by 0.9 per cent.
Of the reported crimes in 2007, 45.6 per cent (or 36 823 crimes) were detected, resulting in the arrest of 42 940 people for various offences. Of this number, 4 664 were juveniles aged between 10 and 15 and 5 023 were young people aged between 16 and 20. Most of them were arrested for miscellaneous thefts, wounding and serious assaults, shop thefts and serious narcotics offences.
There were no crimes involving the use of firearms in 2007, compared with five in 2006. During the year, the Police successfully smashed a robbery syndicate in Yuen Long and seized a pistol with seven modified cartridges. Six firearms were seized during the year, compared with 10 in 2006. The Police will continue to conduct intelligence-led operations and exchange intelligence with other law enforcement agencies to prevent incidents involving the use of firearms.
There was a significant reduction in vehicle thefts. 1 398 vehicles were reported missing in 2007 compared to 1 774 in 2006, a fall of 21.2 per cent. The decrease was largely due to the stringent enforcement action taken against vehicle theft syndicates and the exchange of intelligence with other law enforcement agencies to tackle the smuggling of stolen vehicles.
The number of triad-related crimes continued its downward trend. In 2007, there were 2 259 triad-related crimes, a slight decrease of 5.7 per cent compared with 2 396 in 2006. Triad-related crimes accounted for 2.8 per cent of all reported crimes during the year. To tackle triad activities, a large-scale tripartite anti-triad operation involving Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao police was mounted in June 2007.