Crime Situation: Safer City with Better Prospects Grenville Cross Says the NSL Helps Reduce the Number of Young People Falling Foul of the Law
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8 | Tuesday, August 10, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY COMMENTHK Crime situation: Safer city with better prospects Grenville Cross says the NSL helps reduce the number of young people falling foul of the law n July 27, the Hong beries fell by 64 percent, from 186 to 67, teens they involved in, for example, their who fomented the unrest in 2019 are still Kong Police Force burglaries fell by 35.9 percent, from 1,156 petrol bombings. Their naivete was ruth- at large, and as dangerous as ever. They issued its latest six- to 741, and thefts dropped by 13.4 per- lessly exploited by those who wanted to remain on the lookout for new means monthly report on the cent, from 10,762 to 9,317. sabotage the “one country, two systems” of exploiting young people and turning crime situation, cover- The reduction, moreover, by 15.7 per- policy and provoke Beijing into an armed them against society, whether by disre- ing the period from cent, of wounding and serious assault intervention. Although they failed, many spect of the national anthem, seditious Grenville Cross January to June 2021. cases, down from 2,462 to 2,076, is also of the youngsters they seduced have been activity at universities, or even bomb The author is a senior counsel, law profes- plots. It contains a mass of information, much sor and criminal justice analyst, and was most welcome. It suggests strongly that left carrying the can for them, including Oof it positive, but by no means all. Such previously the director of public prosecu- the ethos of violence unleashed by the the 13-year-old boy who pleaded guilty at Although the National Security Law reports are invariably useful, and they tions of the Hong Kong SAR. protest movement and its armed wing court on July 30 to carrying two petrol has helped to cleanse the city, many can assist in di erent ways. during the insurrection has run its bombs in Mong Kok, on Aug 31, 2019. The dangers linger beneath the surface. But, In the fi ght against crime, detection, While, therefore, the report course, meaning everybody is safer. This, situation, however, is now improving, despite this, the report indicates that the which is very good news for everybody new law has been deployed with great by which is meant some form of solid (on the Hong Kong crime of course, has not happened by chance, action or sanction, is always vital. It is, but is directly linked to the enactment who believes that the city’s youth hold restraint. Indeed, in almost 13 months therefore, reassuring to discover that the situation) provides grounds of the National Security Law for Hong the keys to its future. only 117 people were arrested under it, overall detection rate has increased by for real encouragement, Kong on June 30, 2020. This has restored In 2018, the year immediately prior to with only 64 having been prosecuted. Its about 3.6 percent, to 35.7 percent, which, decency to the city, and helped the police the insurrection, a total of 2,769 juveniles very existence has been benefi cial, and although it may not sound particularly the situation could change to end the fanatics’ depredations. (aged 10 to 15) and young people (aged 16 many people who were inclining to delin- high, is encouraging. By comparison, the quickly. If, moreover, things It was, however, as the report shows, not to 20) were arrested for various crimes. quency have now stepped back from the Home O ce in England and Wales, for are to progress, it would be all one-way tra c. In the fi rst six months of But once the insurrection got underway, abyss. Some losers, of course, have either example, reported a detection rate of 7.8 this year there were, in comparison to last the fi gure mushroomed to 4,268 in 2019, fl ed or emigrated, but the city is not yet percent in the year ending in March 2019, wrong to leave everything year, signifi cant increases in the number of followed closely by 3,987 in 2020. The out of the woods. Other individuals, like which was down from 9.1 percent in the to the Police Force, particu- rapes, indecent assaults and domestic vio- report, however, reveals a marked decline a latent cancer, are simply biding their previous year. Hong Kong’s improved larly where young people lence cases. Potential victims, therefore, will in youth arrests in the fi rst six months of time, and these are the ones the police detection rate is undoubtedly related to need to be on their guard, and to exercise this year, and the overall fi gure of 1,519 must neutralize. the end of the insurrection of 2019-20, as are concerned. Anti-crime even greater care than usual. The police arrests suggests a return to pre-insur- While, therefore, the report provides this has released many o cers from pub- initiatives are all well and will also need to consider if extra protec- rection levels. Whereas the number of grounds for real encouragement, the situ- tions might assist, such as beefed-up street juveniles arrested in the fi rst six months ation could change quickly. If, moreover, lic order duties and enabled them to get good, but what needs priori- back to their core investigate functions. patrols or crime advisories. If, moreover, of 2020 was 707, this fell, in the reporting things are to progress, it would be wrong One of the most important purposes of tization for the city’s youth is the social services can do more to identify period, by 23.3 percent, to 542. The cor- to leave everything to the Police Force, the biannual reports is to alert the public better parenting, responsible households where tensions are running responding decline in the young person particularly where young people are con- to the incidence of particular crimes, such high, particularly where families are living category was 38.9 percent, down from cerned. Anti-crime initiatives are all well as burglaries or assaults on females late at teaching, character building, in highly cramped conditions, this could 1,599 to 977. and good, but what needs prioritization night, so that people can take the neces- career planning, and realiz- help to deter the violent and protect the With the exception, therefore, of the for the city’s youth is better parenting, sary precautions. Allied to this, the reports able work prospects. vulnerable. protest leaders themselves, who led so responsible teaching, character build- show the areas where enhanced policing One highly encouraging feature of many young people astray in the fi rst ing, career planning, and realizable work is required, and which may necessitate a the report is the drastic reduction in place, this development will gratify every- prospects. After all, Hong Kong can only redeployment of manpower and resources. The report’s good news is that the overall the number of young people falling foul one who cares for the city’s future. If the achieve its full potential if it not only har- If, moreover, existing o ense provisions crime situation has improved, in com- of the law. During the insurrection, the school system can do more in future to nesses all its talent, but also motivates all are inadequate to combat particular types parison with the corresponding period in protest movement eagerly fed o the gull- instill basic values into its students and its people to pull together in support of of delinquency, such as the psychological 2020. Whereas there were 32,345 crimes ibility of the city’s youth, deploying many to ensure they possess basic moral values, local and national objectives. abuse of children, the government is put on in the fi rst six months of last year, these of them to its frontlines. This, of course, this will go a long way toward ensuring notice that it may need to strengthen the declined by 4.6 percent, to 30,871, this had disastrous consequences for many of that nobody can dupe them again. But The views do not necessarily refl ect those legal framework. year. In relation to particular crimes, rob- them, including the teens and even pre- vigilance is necessary, as many of those of China Daily. Ad hoc measures will not clear PTU of its unpatriotic history t a meet-the-press session last the 2019 riots, particularly in the perspec- in education that refused to relinquish its claimed support for teachers’ well-being. week, Chief Executive Carrie tive of its ill impact on the school sector anti-China stance. Sidelining the PTU, it alleged, would be Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor hit out created and perpetuated by its di erent By the EDB’s framework, a professional a loss to the education profession. Such at opposition claims that she channels for possible infusion of biased education organization “should uphold self-asserted claims could, however, be Achose to side against the Hong Kong Pro- political ideas and activities. The union professionalism, help teachers demon- readily refuted by the past “words and deeds” of the PTU. If the union took at fessional Teachers’ Union by bowing to Mervyn Cheung Man-ping was reproved for playing a supportive strate their professionalism in guiding pressure from Beijing, exerted through The author is chairman of Hong Kong role in the 2019 riots, which relegated students to discern right from wrong, heart the motherland’s development, it editorial statements published by media Education Policy Concern Organization. Hong Kong to a “riot city” on the vast teaching students the importance of law- would not have staged the mass sit-in outlets Xinhua News Agency and People’s map of its motherland.