ENG-1997 — Page 337

CHAPTER 18

PUBLIC ORDER

HONG KONG is one of the safest cities in the world. The overall crime rate in 1996 was the lowest in the past 15 years and the downward trend continued in 1997. Compared with 1996, the overall crime rate and violent crime rate dropped by 17.3 per cent and 12.4 per cent, respectively, which was the lowest for 24 years.

In the fight against crime, the Police Force is strengthening its intelligence and detection capabilities against economic and serious crimes, such as money laundering and commercial fraud. Liaison with overseas law enforcement agencies has been stepped up to tackle international organised crime. Co-operation with the authorities on the mainland of China has also been enhanced to tackle trans-boundary crimes such as smuggling, illegal immigration and offences involving the use of firearms.

Fight Crime Committee

The Fight Crime Committee, chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, provides valuable advice and puts forward recommendations on areas of public concern and on measures to improve the maintenance of law and order.

In 1997, the committee continued to provide advice on measures to combat crime. Specific subjects considered included the Police Force service quality programme, measures to tackle sexual and related offences, action against the sale and publication of pornographic materials, work on sex education, and control of psychotropic drugs. It also commissioned two research projects, launched a publicity campaign on the prevention of juvenile involvement in crime, and held a Fight Crime Reception in October 1997 to foster community interest in the fight against crime.

Implementation of the service quality programme is part of the Police Force's on-going commitment to improving the quality of its service and engendering the confidence of the public. The Force aims to foster a customer-based culture and has adopted major development projects on culture change, management, training, communication, customer focus, and standards. The committee firmly agreed that the Force should build upon existing successes while identifying and strengthening areas requiring improvement.

In view of the increasing concern of sexual and related offences, the committee considered the proposed legislative amendments to increase the maximum penalties on sexual offences, improvement measures to support victims of sexual crimes, and preventive education programmes. It was recommended that the government should adopt various measures to tackle the problem.

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