Counting crimes

The MSAR authorities registered a total of 3,502 crime cases in the first three months of this year, a 5.1 per cent increase from the same period last year, the Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak revealed yesterday.
In terms of crimes related to gaming activities, the Judiciary Police (PJ) opened files on a total of 424 cases in the first three months of this year, a 15.2 per cent year-on-year increase.
Between January and March of this year, police authorities opened files on 105 kidnapping cases, up 18 per cent year-on-year, and on 89 criminal cases of loan-sharking, 16 per cent fewer than the same period last year.
The Secretary explained that the increase in the number of gaming-related kidnapping cases was due to the increased efficiency of authorities in solving these types of crimes, with cases solved on the same day as a complaint is filed, and with the authorities “even solving 20 cases in one day”.
“Most of the cases took place inside ‘entertainment venues’, with no evidence that these cases impact the remaining Macau society,” the Secretary said, adding that the gaming sector “adjustment” didn’t have an impact on the level of local security.
One of the largest yearly increases was registered in the number of counterfeit currency cases, which saw a hike of 90 per cent year-on-year to 95 cases between January and March of this year, of which the majority were related to counterfeit casino chips, with the total value involved amounting to MOP8.8 million (US$1 million).
The number of fraud related crimes also went up 28.8 per cent yearly to 219 in the first three months, of which 22 were phone scams involving a total amount of MOP24.9 million in absconded money.
The number of criminal association cases also increased by 200 per cent yearly to 12 cases from January to March, however the Secretary noted a zero per cent increase rate in the city’s number of homicides had been maintained.


Cyber
A new law proposal for cyber-security will hopefully be finished this year and approved in 2018, the Secretary for Security said yesterday.
The Secretary announced previously that a cyber-security law proposal, for detecting cyber threats before their occurrence and alerting the public, was sent to the Executive Council for consideration last year.
Secretary Wong considered that the MSAR lacks a prevention system in this area and that drafting the legislation has been “complicated”, but that his Office hoped the draft could be completed by the end of the year so a system to coordinate different security sectors on preventing cyber threats can be enforced.
“Every hour and very minute we’re facing risks online and we need to ensure the residents’ protection (…) Water and electricity services are essential infrastructures the government needs to protect. We will only collect transfer data as a way to identify possible risks or vulnerabilities for cyber attacks,” he added.
When questioned if the new law would result in more restrictions of online freedom of expression, Secretary Wong considered the assumption “totally wrong” and stated that the planned regulations were not focused on “investigating online content” but to “prevent hacking of the local network infrastructure”.
However, the Secretary said that he doesn’t consider that the “Internet has total freedom of expression”, since content posted online could be considered offensive or a threat to local security.


No relation
Secretary Wong also addressed the recent cases of Hong Kong lawmakers being barred from entering the city, stressing that the cases were “not related to politics” and that police authorities make the decision to prohibit access to the city after evaluating any threat to the security of local residents.
“In the last 10 years, every country has made its border control measures more strict. We have the right to block the access or deport someone from the MSAR after entering if that person is deemed a security threat or has engaged in criminal activities,” he added.
Several Hong Kong legislators were barred from entering the MSAR in the weeks leading up to the visit of the Chairman of the National People’s Congress, Zhang Dejiang, to the city at the beginning of the month.
During the state visit, two Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were sent back by authorities after having already entered the city.
When asked if his department would reveal the number of people who were barred from entering the MSAR for security reasons in the first three months of the year, Secretary Wong said that number was “confidential”.
He added that the city already followed international standards in revealing its criminal data and that his Office wouldn’t divulge the number or identity of possible security or terrorist threats to the city.