XN000022-1993-08-24 — Page 2

CP REVIEWS POLICE WORK

TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1993

F

IS

THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, MR LI KWAN-HA,

DETERMINED THAT ALL THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO THE FORCE WOULD CONTINUE TO BE USED ΤΟ BRING TO JUSTICE THOSE WHO RECKLESSLY THREATEN HUMAN LIFE IN THE TERRITORY DESPITE A DROP IN THE NUMBER OF VIOLENT CRIMES IN 1992.

THE PLEDGE WAS MADE BY MR LI IN THE ROYAL HONG KONG POLICE FORCE REVIEW 1992, WHICH WAS RELEASED TODAY [TUESDAY].

IN REVIEWING THE LAW AND ORDER SITUATION IN 1992, MR LT SAID THE YEAR WAS A CHALLENGING AND SUCCESSFUL ONE FOR THE FORCE WHICH SAW A WELCOME REVERSAL OF AN INCREASING TREND OVER THE PREVIOUS FOUR YEARS WITH THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CRIMES REPORTED TO POLICE DURING THE YEAR SHOWED A SIGNIFICANT DECREASE OF 5.2 PER CENT.

HE SAID WITH THE EXCEPTION OF VEHICLE THEFT, THERE HAD BEEN A REDUCTION IN ALL MAJOR CRIME AREAS, WHICH PARTICULARLY INCLUDED ALL VIOLENT CRIME AND CRIMES INVOLVING THE USE OF FIREARMS.

MR LI NOTED THAT THE NUMBER OF CRIMES PER 100,000 PEOPLE HAD STEADILY DROPPED OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS AND IN 1992 STOOD AT 1.446 WHICH COMPARED FAVOURABLY WITH THE MAJORITY OF OTHER LARGE CITIRS AROUND THE WORLD.

A

COMMENTING ON THE NATURE OF VIOLENT CRIMES, MR LI NOTED THAT NUMBER OF THEM COULD ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS SENSATIONAL AND THE DISREGARD FOR

SAFETY

AS HORRIFYING, PARTICULARLY SO WHEN HAND GRENADES AND

WERE USED.

PUBLIC

BY

THE

PERPETRATORS AUTOMATIC WEAPONS

HOWEVER, HE WAS PLEASED TO REPORT THAT A MAJORITY OF THESE PERPETRATORS HAD BEEN ARRESTED, EITHER AT THE SCENES OF THEIR CRIMES OR, FOLLOWING INVESTIGATION, AT THEIR HIDEOUTS.

A NUMBER WHO INITIALLY ESCAPED TO CHINA HAD BEEN REPATRIATED TO FACE TRIAL, AS A RESULT OF STEADILY IMPROVING CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE TWO TERRITORIES, HE ADDED.

THE COMMISSIONER ESPECIALLY PAID TRIBUTE TO THE MANY BRAVE AND RESOURCEFUL ACTS AGAINST VIOLENT CRIME BY INDIVIDUAL POLICE OFFICERS AND SAID THEIR CHIVALROUS PERFORMANCE HAD "PROVIDED A CLEAR INDICATION OF THE FORCE-WIDE DETERMINATION TO APPREHEND THE OFFENDERS, AND, THEREBY, TO SEEK TO DISPEL THE FEAR OF CRIME WHICH IN THE MINDS OF MANY IS SO REAL”.

HE STRESSED THAT PUBLIC REASSURANCE THAT THE POLICE WERK SUCCESSFULLY COMBATTING VIOLENT CRIME WAS A HIGH PRIORITY.

ON THE PROBLEM OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, MR LI NOTED WAS A WORRYING TREND OF EVER INCREASING NUMBERS OF ILLEGAL FROM CHINA DURING THE YEAR UNDER REVIEW.

THAT

THERE IMMIGRANTS

/THE NUMBER