Police have launched a "Security Guards Alertness Campaign" in Kowloon East district to combat the rise in public housing estate burglary cases there.

In 2002, 382 burglaries took place in the district's public housing estates, representing 28.7% of the total number of burglaries in that District. In 2003, there were 552 cases, accounting for 34.1% of the total.

Secretary for Housing, Planning & Lands Michael Suen released the figures in the Legislative Council this afternoon.

Noting that the new campaign's effectiveness has yet to be evaluated, Mr Suen said at present, there is no plan to extend it to private residential buildings, including the Home Ownership Scheme estates. 

Depending on its effectiveness, actual needs and feedback from relevant departments and management services companies, the Police will consider whether to extend it, he added.

Mr Suen said whenever a burglary takes place in a public housing estate, the Housing Department will liaise with the Police to find out the means of access into the flat with a view to working out improvement measures. 

"Information on hand suggests that most burglars gained access through the flat doors. In some cases, the burglars climbed from the corridor into the flats through the windows," he said.

"In a few cases, it is suspected that the burglars might have climbed into the flats from the roof through the windows."

The Housing Department has taken the following measures to step up security in public housing estates:

* security guards are asked to adjust their patrol routes to focus on any burglary blackspots;

* enhancing anti-burglary installations, such as raising the anti-burglary bars and strengthening the locks and gates to the rooftop when necessary;

* instructing the security guards at ground floor lobbies to be vigilant for strangers and not to allow strangers to enter the buildings; and