Youth crime down 38pc for quarter, police say

But force warns young people are still at high risk, and stresses that education is the answer

Crimes committed by youth fell by 38 per cent in the first quarter from a year ago, police revealed yesterday, but they warned that vulnerable children and teenagers were still paying a high price for going astray.

The police highlighted cases in which four 13-year-old boys had been arrested on suspicion of trafficking illegal drugs, and 11 young women aged from 12 to 15 had been lured into engaging in prostitution.

The number of young people arrested for various crimes dropped by 37.5 per cent to 448 between January and March this year, from 717 during the same period in 2021, police said.

This included 84 people aged from 10 to 20 detained for triad-related offences, 58 arrested for wounding and serious assault, 54 for criminal damage and 52 for serious drug offences.

The force said there were still cases where vulnerable youth had paid a high price for taking part in criminal activities.

“Among these, four 13-yearold male students were exploited by drug syndicates and arrested for trafficking Ice, cocaine and cannabis,” the statement said.

It added that 10 of the 11 young women who were exploited by vice groups to engage in prostitution were students.

“One single youth crime is far too many, in particular youths being exploited by crime syndicates for committing serious crimes such as manufacturing and trafficking in dangerous drugs,” the statement said.

Police described youth crime as a complex social issue, which required different sectors of the community to use education to help cultivate a law-abiding attitude among youngsters.

In the statement, police also revealed the city’s overall crime situation during the first three months of this year. Hong Kong saw 13,866 crimes in the first quarter of 2022, down 6.2 per cent from 14,779 cases in the same period last year, with reported incidents of violent crime decreasing 10.3 per cent to 1,840.

Police handled 245 child abuse cases between January and March this year, accounting for an increase of 29 per cent.

Deception cases rose by 29 per cent to 5,379 this year. Police attributed the rise to a surge in reported incidents involving online shopping fraud, employment scams, investment fraud and telephone deception.

The number of online romance scams dropped by eight cases to 385 when compared with the first quarter of last year, while compensated dating scams fell by 39 to 270. However, the financial loss resulting from both types of cases rose by 31 per cent to HK$180 million and HK$14.3 million, respectively.