Police are acting more proactively against crimes such as robbery, in particular in areas frequented by visitors.
And at the same time they will strengthen their relationship with the public to help fight crime, the Secretary for Security, Mr Cheong Kuoc Va, said today.
Mr Cheong disclosed this when he released the crime statistics for last year, which showed a slight increase of 7.4 per cent compared with 2010.
He said as work had commenced on large infrastructure projects which could bring more visitors to Macao, they might have to recruit more police officers to cope with an increasing workload.
Mr Cheong said due to the increase in robbery cases, the authorities would act more proactively against crimes, particularly at tourist spots and strengthen the relationship between the police and the public. He said crimes against property made up of 56.6 per cent of the total of 12,512 cases in the reporting year, with crimes against the person accounting for 19.4 per cent. Crimes against the person -- one of the five major categories of crimes classified in the Penal Code of Macao -- dropped 1.7 per cent to 2,428 cases. Wounding increased by 6.7 per cent to 1,704 cases, with criminal intimidation up 16.9 per cent to 207 cases. Crimes against property rose 16.2 per cent with 7,080 cases, with pick-pocketing and robbery cases up 20.1 per cent. Crimes against society dropped 1.4 per cent with 670 cases, due to a 10.6 per cent drop in the use of counterfeit banknote cases. Other crimes not included in the above classifications dropped 11.3 per cent, with 1,379 cases. Juvenile crimes fell by two cases compared with last year, with 100 cases in 2011.
