Gaming related crimes continue to surge

Chau Wai Kuong

Gaming related crimes and drug trafficking have been on the rise over the past year, the Judiciary Police (PJ) director Chau Wai Kuong, revealed yesterday during an event to mark the Judiciary Police Day at the institution’s headquarters.
Chau made a review of the year of the period between June 2015 and May 2016, highlighting the emerging crime types as well as those which have received less media attention during the same period.
The major increase goes to crimes related to the gaming industry, in particular, usury and illegal detentions due to the non-payment of gaming debts, both of which increased as much as 60 and 200 percent, respectively, leading to the detention of a total of 1,887 people.
Although the figures on these crimes continue to rise, the PJ director said there was no reason for social concern. “The large majority of the suspects and victims of this type of crimes are not Macau residents therefore the occurrences didn’t threaten the community security,” he said.
Drug trafficking crimes also increased 15 percent year-on-year during the same period, with particular growth (43 percent) in the period between January and May this year.
Commenting on this trend in drug offenses, the PJ director said: “The PJ has been putting efforts to fight drug crimes, improving on the investigation work related to drug trafficking at the airport and at border cross-point, preventing its entry to Macau. […] Thanks to the strengthening of police strategy, the close monitoring carried out by criminal investigation staff and the use of high technology in the police work, several cases related to drugs were uncovered.”
Chau highlighted five cross-border cases that have been resolved by the police force in which criminals were trying to smuggle drugs into the territory through the Macau International Airport. He admitted that recently the police had encountered new and increasingly sophisticated ways to conceal drugs, which makes police work harder, as it “requires a bigger effort on police force’s interlink and a close connection with the community.”
According to the official figures released by the PJ, another type of crime that has seen a notable increase over the 12 months were those pertaining to sexual offenses, notably the sexual abuse of children. A total of 11 cases were registered in the latest 12 months, compared to eight recorded in previous 12 months. Crimes of sexual coercion followed a similar trend (12 cases).
Crimes which appear to be on a downward trend are so-called phone scams, a type  of crime that has caused more concern in previous years. These crimes reportedly decreased about 70 percent year-on-year. Chau attributes the positive results to the “wide awareness-raising campaigns” carried out by the PJ that started last year.
On decline are also the crimes of robbery and theft experienced by both people and residences. They decreased year-on-year by six and 10.5 percent respectively.
Regarding priorities for the police force to reduce crime, the director said that the best results are always those achieved by “a forward-
looking strategy uniting the prevention and the combat, in order to repress serious crimes in the compliance with the determination of the legal duties.”

PJ attributes commendations to highlighted staff members

Taking the opportunity of the commemoration of the 56th Anniversary of the PJ, the police force delivered commendations honoring staff members. In total, 124 commendations were awarded in a ceremony held at the PJ headquarters. Of this number,  111 were individual commendations and 13 were collective commendations. The annually held event on PJ Day, awarded 11 special commendations for “exceptional merit” to 11 staff members from the police force this year.