Crime rates in the first eight months of the year have remained stable compared with the same period last year, National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chun (王卓鈞) said yesterday.
Wang made the remarks in a briefing on a public security analysis to a meeting chaired by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄).
Government Information Office Chief Secretary Joseph Chen (陳永豐) quoted Wang as saying that “total crime offenses during the period was 320,131, a decline of 2,764 or a 0.86 percent drop from the same period last year.
“There was an increase of 5.12 percent for crimes solved over the year, pushing the solved-case rate to 78.14 percent,” he said.
The tally was a reference to the total number of cases reported to the police by the public, confessed crimes, and crimes handled by police on duty.
Chen said that according to Wang’s briefing, the rates of serious violent crime and robbery dropped by about 12 percent and 3.8 percent respectively.
There were 27,238 reported cases of fraud, 1,974 cases, or 7.8 percent, higher than for the same period last year, “but fortunately the clear up rate also rose, by 13.14 percent, in comparison with the same period last year.”
Chen said that there had been a noticeable increase in the number of thefts of machinery used in agriculture, forestry, fishing, animal husbandry and power cables.
Wang said the hike in steel prices might be the cause.
Thefts of machinery and power cables increased by 64 percent and 10 percent respectively over the period, he said.
Chen added that most of the cases happened in remote rural areas.
Wang had said in the briefing that the government still needs to improve its performance of cracking down on fraud, smuggling, drug offenses, possession of firearms and advertisements for pornography in print media, Chen said.
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