Safe city: Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee says Hong Kong is still secure and its law and order situation is in good shape.

Hong Kong's overall crime rate in this year's first quarter rose 4.8% over a year earlier, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee says, adding the city is still secure and its law and order is in good shape.

Speaking after the Fight Crime Committee meeting today, Mr Lee said the first quarter saw a total of 19,254 crime cases. The number of violent crime cases also went up 8.6%, to 3,406.

"Although this figure - the number of crimes - saw a little bit of an increase, we can safely say that Hong Kong is still a secure city. Compared with other metropolitan cities, Hong Kong's law and order is in pretty good shape," he added.

Noting the number of bank robberies in the first quarter rose 325% on the same period last year, to 17, Mr Lee expressed concern over the situation.

Twelve of the cases have been classified as attempted bank robberies in which the robber went away when the bank counter officer pushed the alarm button. For the other five cases, a lone robber went away with some money, ranging from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.

"I think experience told us that we should not yield to such kind of bank robbers' requests for money. As soon as the counter officer pushed the alarm button, the bank robber went away," he added.

Three bank robbery suspects netted

Of these 17 cases, Police have arrested three suspects in connection with at least eight of these robberies or attempted robberies. The Government has also liaised with the banks concerned, advising them on how to tackle such situations.

Other crimes which recorded a double-digit growth in the quarter were armed robberies (up 50%, nine cases), theft from vehicles (38%, 752 cases), criminal intimidation (26.4%, 378 cases), wounding (16.4%, 397 cases), deception (15.9%, 1,117 cases), indecent assault (15.4%, 255 cases), missing motor vehicles (15%, 429 cases) and homicide (14.3%, eight cases).

However, no robbery with firearms or goldsmith/watch shop robberies were recorded in the quarter. Criminal damage cases and unlawful society offences also fell 14.5% and 16.1%, to 1,609 and 162.

Ketamine seizure tripled

On drug seizures, the quarter saw 374kg of ketamine seized, up 196.8% over a year earlier. The seizure of cannabis also rose 58.8%, to 27kg. Nevertheless, seizures in heroin, methylamphetamine and Ecstasy-type drugs fell 84.2%, 93.8% and 98.4%.

"As far as juvenile offenders are concerned, we are glad to see that this quarter saw a drop by as much as 9.1%. So overall, Hong Kong is still a very safe city," Mr Lee said.