XN000022-1991-02-06 — Page 2

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1991

S FOR S ON LAW AND ORDER SITUATION

+

SECRETARY

FOR

FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THE SPEECH BY THE SECURITY, THE HON ALISTAIR ASPREY, IN THE LAW AND ORDER DEBATE:

INTRODUCTION

SIR,

MANY MEMBERS HAVE THIS AFTERNOON EXPRESSED THEIR FORCEFULLY

CONCERN, AND THAT OF THE COMMUNITY, AT INCREASE IN CRIME IN HONG KONG. THE GOVERNMENT RECOGNISES AND THAT CONCERN.

CLEARLY

THE

AND

RECENT SHARES

OVERALL CRIME PER 100,000 POPULATION INCREASED BY OVER 7% IN ME 1990 VIOLENT CRIME BY ALMOST 8%. IT WILL BE OF LITTLE COMFORT FOR TO POINT OUT THAT THE RATE OF OVERALL CRIME IS NOW AT THE SAME AS IT WAS IN 1980, AND RATHER LESS THAN IN SEVERAL YEARS IN THE 19808; AND THAT THE RATE OF VIOLENT CRIME IS MORE THAN 7% LOWBR 10 YEARS AGO.

LEVEL EARLY

THAN

MID-

THE FACT IS THAT CRIME, WHICH HAD FALLEN STEADILY IN THE 1980S, IS NOW ONCE AGAIN ON THE INCREASE. VIOLENT CRIME IN PARTICULAR HAS BEEN ON AN UPWARD TREND SINCE 1986. WE MUST REVERSE THAT TREND.

THERE HAS OVERALL STATISTICS ALSO DO NOT TELL THE WHOLE STORY.

POSE A BEEN A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN CERTAIN TYPES OF CRIME WHICH ORDER AND PARTICULAR THREAT

IN OUR TO PUBLIC SAFETY, AND TO LAW SOCIETY. ROBBERIES INCREASED ALMOST 25% IN 1990, AND THERE WERE TWICE AS IN THE AS MANY ROBBERIES INVOLVING THE USE OF GENUINE FIREARMS

YEAR; THE NUMBER OF REPORTED CASES OF BLACKMAIL, PREVIOUS

LARGE PROPORTION OF WHICH WERE TRIAD RELATED, ROSE BY OVER 20%; THERE WAS AN INTO INCREASE OF OVER 40% IN VEHICLE THEFTS; AND WIDESPREAD SMUGGLING CHINA BY WELL ORGANISED CRIMINAL GANGS OF CIGARETTES, STOLEN VEHICLES, AND ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC GOODS.

A

SMUGGLING PROPOSE TO FIGHT

1 SHOULD LIKE TO CONCENTRATE THIS EVENING ON WHAT IS BEING DONE ΤΟ COMBAT CRIMES INVOLVING THE USE OF FIREARMS, CAR THEFT, AND ORGANISED CRIME; AND OF WHAT ADDITIONAL MEASURES WE ASSIST THE POLICE AND THE OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES IN THE AGAINST THESE PARTICULAR CRIMES. I WILL ALSO RESPOND TO POINTS RAISED ON THE ADEQUACY OF POLICE MANNING AND EQUIPMENT.

FIREARMS

PERHAPS THE

YBARS HAS ROBBERIES, ARE OF

MOST WORRYING TREND IN THE PAST THREE BERN THE RISE

THE NUMBER IN

OF CRIMES, PARTICULARLY INVOLVING THE USE OF GENUINE FIREARMS. MANY OF THESE WEAPONS CHINESE ORIGIN.

/THE POLICE