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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1993
VIOLENT CRIMES DOWN IN 1992
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UNRELENTING AND RESOLUTE POLICE ACTION HAS BROUGHT ABOUT SIGNIFICANT DROP IN VIOLENT CRIMES LAST YEAR, REVERSING A RISING TREND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FIVE YEARS, THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, MR LI KWAN-HA, ANNOUNCED TODAY (TUESDAY).
REVIEWING THE CRIME SITUATION OF 1992, THE COMMISSIONER SAID HE WAS HEARTENED TO NOTE THAT THE WELCOME 5.1 PER CENT DIP IN VIOLENT CRIMES WAS LARGELY DUE TO REDUCTION IN HIGH-PROFILE CRIMES SUCH AS ROBBERIES, WOUNDING AND SERIOUS ASSAULT CASES.
IN 1992, THE NUMBER OF ROBBERIES WAS DOWN 744 TO 8,394 CASES OR 8.1 PER CENT, WHILE WOUNDING AND SERIOUS ASSAULTS DECLINED BY 617 CASES TO 5,764 OR 9.7 PER CENT LESS THAN LAST YEAR.
WITH 18,567 VIOLENT CRIME CASES REPORTED LAST YEAR, THE VIOLENT CRIME RATE PER 100,000 OF POPULATION WAS REDUCED TO 319.5, A DECREASE OF SIX PER CENT WHEN COMPARED WITH 339.9 IN 1991.
VIOLENT CRIMES REFER ΤΟ MURDER, WOUNDING, SERIOUS ASSAULT, RAPE, INDECENT ASSAULT, CRUELTY TO CHILDREN, KIDNAP, BLACKMAIL, INTIMIDATION, ROBBERY AND ARSON, WHICH ACCOUNTED FOR 22.1 PER CENT OF OVERALL CRIMES.
GOING INTO SPECIFICS, MR LI SAID OF THE ROBBERY CASES RECORDED LAST YEAR, 46 INVOLVED THE USE OF GENUINE FIREARMS, THE SAME AS IN 1991.
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HOWEVER, THE NUMBER OF ROBBERIES INVOLVING THE PISTOL-LIKE OBJECTS PLUNGED A SIGNIFICANT 25.8 PER CENT FROM 501 CASES IN 1991 TO 307 CASES LAST YEAR AND COULD PARTLY BE ATTRIBUTED TO STRENGTHENED POLICE PRESENCE IN THE STREETS, THE COMMISSIONER NOTED.
RAIDS ON GOLDSMITH AND JEWELLERY SHOPS DIVED TO 39 CASES IN 1992 FROM 135 CASES THE PREVIOUS YEAR, BANK ROBBERIES WERE REDUCED то 94 FROM 147 AND WATCH SHOP HOLDUPS TO THREE FROM 18 IN THE SAME PERIOD.
PROPERTY LOST TO ROBBERY GANGS WAS REDUCED ΤΟ $421 MILLION FROM $612 MILLION IN 1991.
COUPLED WITH DECREASES IN OTHER CATEGORIES OF CRIMES, MR LI SAID THE NUMBER OF OVERALL CRIMES REPORTED ΤΟ THE POLICE HAD DECREASED TO 84,056 CASES LAST YEAR FROM 88,659 IN 1991, A DECLINE OF 6.2 PER CENT.
THIS BROUGHT THE GENERAL CRIME RATE PER 100,000 OF POPULATION TO 1,446.4 IN 1992 FROM 1,540.6 THE PREVIOUS YEAR, A DROP OF 5.2 PER CENT AND BY NO MEANS A SMALL FEAT WHEN COMPARED WITH OTHER COSMOPOLITAN CITIES IN THE WORLD, MR LI POINTED OUT.
/THE DETECTION
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