Hong Kong has seen the number of crimes reported in the first five months of the year rise by more than 10,000 when compared to the same period of last year, according to the police chief.
Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu said in a meeting at the Sham Shui Po District Council on Tuesday that Hong Kong had recorded 35,863 crime cases in the first five months this year, according to local media reports, an increase of 10,434 on last year.
There were 3,872 violent crime cases, a rise of 598 from the same period last year, Siu said, adding that the overall detection rate was 26.2 per cent.
Siu said the sharp increase of overall crime cases was driven by a rise in fraud and “traditional crime,” without specifying what was meant by traditional crime. Additionally, social distancing measures imposed during the fifth wave of Covid-19 in the first few months of last year had reduced social activities and lowered the crime figures, Siu said.
However, since all anti-epidemic measures were lifted, contact between people had resumed, resulting in the increase of traditional crimes, Siu added.
He said the numbers of many traditional crime cases had dropped below pre-pandemic levels, while theft and blackmail had recorded an obvious increase.
Cases related to 2019 protests
Siu was asked by a District Councillor at the meeting about the latest situation of around 6,000 people arrested during the 2019 protests but never charged. Siu said in February that police would announce follow-up actions regarding those cases that month, but no announcements were ever made.
Responding to the question, Siu said:” We are still reviewing these cases as they are more complicated than we expected. We don’t want to work in a perfunctory manner. We also want to continue to examine the related cases.”
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
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