ENG-2001 — Page 384

CHAPTER 18

Public Order

316

HONG KONG is one of the safest cities in the world. Following the decreasing crime. trend in 2000, the overall crime rate and the violent crime rate in 2001 dropped by 6.3 and 9.3 per cent respectively compared with 2000*. These crime rates were, correspondingly, the second lowest and the lowest in the past 27 years.

The Government will continue to take vigorous action to maintain law and order by:-

* deploying additional police officers to perform front-line operational duties (over 2 200 additional police officers have been deployed for such duties since 1993–94); * modernising the Police Force in terms of equipment and training as well as application of modern information technology to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in the prevention and detection of crime;

strengthening the legal framework to provide the law enforcement agencies with adequate powers to combat crime; and

* enhancing co-operation with Mainland authorities and overseas law enforcement

agencies to combat cross-boundary and transnational criminal activities. Since the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, and the subsequent anthrax incidents there, the Government has been closely monitoring the international situation and its impact on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. While there is no intelligence suggesting that Hong Kong may be the target of a terrorist attack, all law enforcement units nonetheless have to remain vigilant to counter possible threats. The Government continues to participate actively in international co-operation in the fight against terrorism.

Fight Crime Committee

With the Chief Secretary for Administration as its Chairman, the Fight Crime Committee (FCC) provides valuable advice and makes recommendations on measures to prevent and reduce crime. It also co-ordinates efforts and monitors results in fighting crime.

In 2001, the committee discussed a number of crime and related issues involving juvenile and young persons. These included the problem of drug abuse by young people, departmental efforts in tackling youth crime under the multi-agency

* Crime rate refers to the number of crimes per 100 000 population. The rate of decrease and the subsequent references to the crime rate have been adjusted in accordance with the updated population estimates (since mid-1996) resulting from the 2001 Population Census.