Opinion | Police force's 2021 crime report largely reassuring, but concerns remain
By Grenville Cross
On Jan 27, 2022, the Hong Kong Police Force issued its report on the crime situation in 2021, and a comparison with 2020 was also made. It contains a wealth of information, much of it comforting, but some also alarming. Transparency of this type is always welcome, not least because it highlights the areas of concern in respect of which the vulnerable, the public and the businesses need to be on their guard.
On the downside, the overall number of crimes reported last year rose by 1.9 percent over 2020, increasing from 63,232 to 64,428. Part of the increase was related to a surge in deception cases, up 23.8 percent over 2020 to 19,249, with 70 percent being internet-related, including investment frauds and romance scams. Financial losses resulting from telephone deceptions mushroomed by 41 percent to HK$810 million ($103.9 million), although the force was able to intercept over HK$2.3 billion of payments in 833 of the reported cases.
Serious drug crimes also escalated over 2020 by 36.6 percent to 1,570, which was a serious setback, suggesting the reemergence of past problems. The force believes that trafficking syndicates are smuggling narcotics by means of sea and air freight in order to circumvent stringent immigration measures imposed globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. Quite clearly, the various law enforcement agencies will need to beef up their anti-narcotics strategies, including intelligence, if this resurgence is to be curbed, always remembering that much trafficking never comes to light.
Although violent crime overall remained a concern, meaning everybody should be on the alert, wounding and serious-assault cases declined by 9.6 percent in 2021, to 4,124, which was 439 fewer than in 2020. While there was a huge drop of 53.4 percent in robberies, down to 123 in 2021, burglaries fell by 29.7 percent to 1,472, with arson cases declining by 33.4 percent to 315. Statistics like these are obviously reassuring for the public, who can feel safer on the streets and in their homes, and they show the value of effective policing.
Indeed, the commissioner of police, Raymond Siu Chak-yee, noted that "with stability restored in society, police have been able to focus more on dealing with issues of public safety", and he highlighted the benefits of targeted patrolling and intelligence gathering.
Not such good news, however, were the child abuse figures. These rose last year by 60 percent, to 1,232, a trend that also reflects the experiences of the Social Welfare Department and the NGOs, all of which have noticed significant increases. These figures have, once again, set the alarm bells ringing, and comprehensive laws to protect children from abuse must be urgently enacted. These should not only ordain the mandatory reporting of child abuse, but also criminalize child beating in all situations, psychological cruelty to a child, and the turning of a blind eye to situations resulting in a child's injury or death.
Also alarming was the increase of sexual abuse cases. Although the overall figures were still not great, the incidence of indecent-assault cases rose by 49.3 percent, from 682 to 1,018, while the number of rapes rose from 64 to 79, an increase of 23.4 percent. Not all of these will have arisen indoors, and the police may have to consider extra protections, including more foot patrols and crime advisories.
In the combat of crime, detection is always a vital part of any successful anti-crime strategy, and here the report was positive. Although the overall detection rate only improved slightly, from 37.8 percent to 38.5 percent, the rate for violent crime increased from 52.4 percent to 56.5 percent, which indicates that good detective work and sound intelligence are paying dividends. This, by global standards, is an impressive rate, and it illustrates how the defeat of the insurrection in 2019-20 has enabled the force, without distractions, to concentrate more upon its investigative functions.
A particularly positive aspect of the report concerns young people. Whereas the number of juveniles (10-15 years old) arrested for crimes was 1,114 in 2021, a decrease of 8.5 percent over the 2020 figure of 1,218, the number of young persons (16-20 years old) arrested declined by an impressive 31.1 percent over the two years, from 2,769 to 1,907. This was undoubtedly related to the end of the insurrection, which saw many young people ruthlessly led astray by individuals who used them as pawns in their attempts to wreck the "one country, two systems" policy.
Although the youth crime figures generally make heartening reading, the downside is that the number of young people arrested for serious drugs offenses increased exponentially in 2021, from 112 to 430, an almost fourfold increase, which must concern everybody. What figures of this magnitude show is that the drug traffickers are no less unscrupulous than the subversives when it comes to exploiting youth. Neither group bats an eyelid over using youngsters in advancing their objectives, and this is why, whenever their operatives are brought to justice, the courts must impose condign punishment upon them.
Although the 2020 National Security Law for Hong Kong has largely tamed the hostile forces, some elements are still active, invariably with foreign encouragement. They are still trying to exploit young people, which is why periodic arrests are made for various types of subversive activity, including of people who were brainwashed into thinking it appropriate to glorify violent attacks on police officers. They are still trying, for example, to sow disaffection in the educational institutions, to encourage disrespect of national symbols, and to recruit youngsters into secessionist plotting. Despite this, the police have revealed that there have only been about 162 arrests under the National Security Law, with around 100 individuals prosecuted and HK$115 million of suspect assets frozen. This shows that the new law is being applied with restraint, and only in those cases where enforcement action is strictly required to protect the country.
Overall, the report is encouraging, and shows that, in many ways, the public is now safer than previously, with many young people getting their lives back on track. There is, however, no room for complacency, and urgent action is required in particular areas. There is, of course, only so much that the police force itself can do, and everybody must pull their weight. While the community mobilizes in its own defense, whether through Fight Crime Committee initiatives or otherwise, so also must the government provide the weak with long-overdue legal protections.
There are undoubtedly important messages in this report, and they must be heeded.
(Source: China Daily)
The author is a senior counsel, law professor and criminal justice analyst, and was previously the director of public prosecutions of the Hong Kong SAR.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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