ENG-2010 — Page 371

Public Order 313

and 15 and 4255 were young people aged between 16 and 20. Most young persons were arrested for shop thefts, wounding and serious assaults, miscellaneous thefts, and serious narcotics offences. During the year, three firearms were seized compared with six in 2009.

The number of triad-related crimes showed a decrease to 2 037 compared with 2 351 in 2009. This type of crime accounted for 2.7 per cent of all reported crimes during the year. To tackle triad activities, a large-scale tripartite anti-triad operation involving the police forces of Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao was mounted in the second half of 2010 with a total of 1 102 persons arrested in Hong Kong for various crimes.

During the year, there were 961 cases of taking conveyance without authority, a drop of 13.8 per cent or 154 cases compared with 2009. The number of cases involving motorcycles and light goods vehicles decreased by 21.6 per cent and 13.8 per cent in 2010. The decreases were attributable to vigorous enforcement actions taken by the Police as well as joint efforts with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies.

Domestic Violence and Child Protection

Following the enactment of the Domestic and Cohabitation Relationships Violence Ordinance by the Legislative Council in December 2009, the coverage of Police procedures for handling domestic violence was extended to cover same sex cohabitants and lovers.

The Police also spared no effort in preventing and combating all forms of child abuse and continued to work closely with other government departments and non- governmental organisations to promote child protection. In collaboration with the Social Welfare Department, the Police provided training in identifying and handling child abuse cases to students of the Hong Kong Institution of Education and judges. of the Judiciary. To address local needs, the Police also organised large-scale promotional campaigns on child protection at district level.

Commercial Crime

To maintain a safe and stable business environment in Hong Kong, the Commercial Crime Bureau continued to implement a structured intelligence-based approach in its investigations into syndicated and serious frauds, counterfeit and forgery cases, and technology crimes.

The number of reported cases of serious fraud, counterfeit currency, forgery and technology crimes remained stable. Offences perpetrated by street deception gangs increased slightly from 55 cases in 2009 to 62 cases in 2010.

There was a declining trend in the number of cases of lottery fraud and related offences, particularly those targeting overseas Chinese. The Police detected 31 fraud cases in 2010, with 63 persons arrested for money laundering offences related to lottery scams involving some $20.52 million. In one of those cases, four persons were arrested for dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence amounting to $1.42 million.