ENG-2013 — Page 316

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Public Order

At the end of 2013, the Police Force had an establishment of about 28,500 police officers and 4,600 civilian staff, reinforced by some 4,000 volunteers serving in the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force. A total of 238 inspectors and 956 constables were appointed during the year.

Crime

Reported crimes in 2013 totalled 72,911, a decrease of 4 per cent compared with 75,930 in 2012. The crime rate stood at 1,015 cases per 100,000 population, a drop of 4.3 per cent compared with 1,061 in 2012. The decrease was mainly due to a drop in miscellaneous thefts, criminal damage, wounding and serious assault and burglary. The number of violent crimes decreased to 12,153, a drop of 5.2 per cent compared with 12,821 in 2012.

In 2013, there were 500 cases of robbery, a drop of 18.8 per cent compared with 616 in 2012. The last reported case of robbery with genuine firearms was in 2006. Regarding non-violent crimes, burglaries decreased from 4,214 in 2012 to 3,573, a decline of 15.2 per cent, while overall thefts decreased from 33,664 in 2012 to 31,598, a drop of 6.1 per cent.

Of the reported crimes, 43.2 per cent (or 31,479 crimes) were detected, resulting in the arrest of 36,609 persons. Among these, 2,083 were juveniles aged between 10 and 15 while 3,314 were young persons aged between 16 and 20. Arrests of youths were mostly for wounding and serious assault, miscellaneous thefts, serious drug offences and shop theft.

The number of triad-related crimes decreased to 2,035 compared with 2,340 in 2012, a drop of 13 per cent. This type of crime accounted for 2.8 per cent of all reported crimes during the year. To tackle triad problems, a large-scale anti-triad operation involving the police forces of Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao was mounted in the second half of 2013, resulting in the arrest of 1,813 persons in Hong Kong.

The police also launched the 'RenoSafe Scheme' with four government departments and public organisations in September to raise public awareness of organised manipulation in building renovation works.

Publicity campaigns on crime prevention measures made use of a broad spectrum of media, including the 'Hong Kong Police Mobile Application, the 'Hong Kong Police YouTube channel' and the internet.

Commercial Crime

The Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB) continued to tackle serious and complex frauds, technology crimes and counterfeiting of monetary instruments in Hong Kong and overseas. The overall situation remained stable despite emerging trends in fraudulent activities, including the use of new technology in the commission of commercial crime.

The CCB continued its close co-operation and liaison with its local, regional and international partners in order to interdict international and cross-boundary commercial crimes. In January, together with INTERPOL, the CCB hosted the First INTERPOL Project Anti-Transnational Financial Crime Working Group meeting. In September, together with the French National Police, the

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