Lawmakers are concerned about the increase of some types of crimes over the past nine months. Topping the concerns are the sexual abuse of children as well as crimes conducted over the Internet, namely scams.
Questioned on the topic during the debate on the Policy Address 2021 for the sectorial area of Security, Wong Sio Chak noted that his office aims to tackle such types of criminal activities with education and as a state of “imminent risk.”
On the first issue, Wong said it is necessary to continue to insist on educating the population to increase the citizens’ awareness of several new types of crimes, such as the ones occurring via the Internet.
In reply to several questions, namely those from lawmakers Ella Lei, Si Ka Lon, and Angela Leong, Wong said, “Prevention and education is essential, especially when we are talking about crimes against minors [such as sexual abuse] in which the perpetrators are often people that are familiar and close to the victims.”
Wong also noted that with new scams on the Internet involving fake investments among other elements, education and information to make the public aware of such practices is the best method for tackling a problem that often has roots outside Macau, meaning it is very difficult for police to find criminals and bring them to justice.
“We need to continue to reinforce education and information disclosure to reinforce the awareness of the citizens. This is the best way to prevent these crimes from happening,” Wong said, noting that the police have already an alarm mechanism to prevent local citizens from transferring large amounts of money to accounts abroad when it is suspected that a citizen might have fallen victim to a scam.
The Secretary said that the mechanism has already prevented the loss of 9 million patacas from local residents in 2020 alone, and that together with a refund mechanism in a cooperation system with the neighboring regions, has been able to recover over 3 million patacas to the rightful owners in 16 different cases.
Questioned also on the growth in fake marriage and fake employment recruitment cases, Wong said that a new bill that aims to amend the immigration law includes new provisions as well as the definition of crimes such as fake marriage and fake recruitment that also apply to agents and intermediary people that can be charged with co-authorship of the crimes.
“This draft bill will be presented to the Executive Council and then to the Legislative Assembly for appreciation, early next year,” Wong concluded.
As for technology, Wong insisted on the advantages of the “Eyes in the Sky” public surveillance camera system that has been “performing well to verify the truth and the facts,” noting that this is “their purpose.”
The Secretary also said he was hoping that more Intelligent Policing technologies can be enforced soon to ease the workload of security forces that constantly battle with a lack of human resources.
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