Crime could increase again this year after drop in 2022, Security Chief says
The Covid-19 pandemic and related border restrictions that kept Macau from the world caused a sharp decrease in crimes reported over the last three years and, particularly, in 2022 when the total number of crimes reported dropped some 13.9%, the Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, said during a press conference last Friday to present the final report on criminality in Macau in 2022.
For Wong, the data shows Macau remains a secure and safe city.
When compared to the total number of crimes and without accounting for the different categories, the total number of crimes reported has been dropping since 2019 (pre-pandemic) except for 2021, when it went up by 13.1%.
Despite this, during the pandemic and when border restrictions were in force, the crime figures were lower than in 2019 when it reached 14,178 in total.
In 2022, during which more border restrictions came into effect, the total number of reported crimes stood at 9,799. This number is just 30.9% lower than in 2019 before the pandemic, and a number which may fall further when we take into account the fact stated countless times over the years by the Secretariat for Security that attributed the majority of the criminal actions to visitors to Macau.
The crime data analysis states precisely that due to the pandemic “in between 2020 and 2022, there was a significant decrease in the number of reported crimes compared to 2019’s pre-pandemic levels,” which was “due to the implementation of Covid-19-related restrictions, which had had an impact on the number of visitors to Macau and the city’s economic activities.”
2022 saw a year with less violent crime reported to the police (153 cases), a drop of 102 cases when compared to 2021 (-40%) and 90 cases in 2020 (-37%).
According to the police authorities report, the most serious types of violent crime, which include kidnapping, murder and aggravated assault, “continued to be either non-existent or extremely rare in Macau,” they said.
Growing are the crimes related to the internet, “in particular theft of personal data.”
Wong said security authorities would step up efforts regarding inspection work and combat cybercrime as well as continue to carry out crime prevention campaigns in the local community.
The Secretary also expressed fears that with the resumption of economic activities and the influx of tourists, crime could once again rise, saying that the “return to normal” poses additional challenges to Macau’s security.
41.6% drop in gaming-related crimes
Gaming-related crimes in 2022 totaled 371 instances, a 41.6% decrease from 2021. Again, this was mostly due to the drastic reduction in the number of visitors to Macau, namely those involved in gambling-related activities such as loan-sharking or illegal currency exchange, among others.
In gaming-related crimes recorded in 2022, most cases were related to scams, “the majority of them linked to illicit money exchange activities,” followed by the crime of disobedience related to unlawful entry of banned persons into casino venues and unlawful appropriation.
