Crime rate drops slightly, arson cases surge

Judiciary Police director Chau Wai Kuong

The latest crime statistics and law enforcement data for the first three quarters of 2017 were presented to the media in a press conference held at the  Secretary for Security office yesterday.

An exponential hike in the number of arson  cases was recorded. According to the data presented by Wong Sio Chak, this was an increase of 176.9 percent. This represents the registration of 23 more arson cases than in the same period of 2016 (13).

Wong explained, “according to the data provided by the investigating authorities, a total of 19 out of these 36 cases are related to cigarette ends not properly disposed. Four cases are related to arsons targeting vehicles and at least one case of a fire caused in a building corridor.” He added, “in most of these other cases [not related to negligence] are cases of disputes with neighbors […] that lead to the arson.”

Wong also noted the decrease of the “violent crimes,” which during the same period reduced by 2.3 percent, or numerically, 594 fewer cases than during the same nine months of 2016.

However, cases of scams perpetrated by con artists rose by 28 percent. This rise can be accredited to phone scams and crimes related to the exchange of counterfeit currency, which rose by 17.2 percent.

Addressing the increase in phone scams, the Judiciary Police director, Chau Wai Kuong, noted that there had been reported loses of about RMB1.13 million across the recent cases, as, “the majority of the victims are students from tertiary education level, which leads us to think about a reinforcement on the prevention measures and information to such level of education.” Chau added, “we are also in contact with the banking sector regarding the suspect transfers of money and the opening of accounts by Macau residents namely in Zhuhai, as in many cases the victims are asked to open an account in China to transfer the amounts.” This alliance with the banking sector is a measure that will hopefully prevent scams.