Crime rate down, phone and Internet love scams up

[General Veers]

Crime rate down, phone and Internet love scams up

By Saifulbahri Ismail | Posted: 07 February 2012 1435 hrs​

SINGAPORE: Singapore's crime rate fell by seven per cent to a 20-year low in 2011.

The total number of cases for the year fell by 1,748 last year.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) attributed the improvement to their continuous efforts in enforcement and public education.

2011 had its share of violent crimes, such as the murder of a woman whose badly-burnt body was found at the Afro Asia Building in Robinson Road.

There was also the case of the decomposed body of a woman discovered at West Coast Park.

But there were fewer cases considered as crimes against persons, which include murder and rioting.

There were 3,939 cases, a drop of 238 cases, from the year before.

Other areas also saw improvements.

Violent property crimes, which includes robbery, recorded a 20-year low of 443 cases in 2011.

They dropped by 22 per cent from 567 cases in 2010.

Housebreaking also dropped to a 20-year low with 705 cases.

This is a 21 per cent improvement from 896 cases in 2010.

Theft cases went down by more than 1,200.

There was a total of 18,290 cases in 2011, down six per cent from 19,560 cases in 2010.

Key crime concerns such as unlicensed money lending and harassment, outrage of modesty and youth crime also saw improvements.

There were fewer cases of unlicensed money lending and harassment, at 3,492 cases, down by 21 per cent, compared with those of 2010.

Outrage of modesty cases fell by 19 cases from 1,415 in 2010 to 1,396 last year.

The number of youths arrested for crime fell by 724 persons - from 4,174 persons in 2010 to 3,450 persons last year.

Even though many types of crimes have seen a drop last year, there have been an increase in commercial crimes.

Police have observed a rising trend in cheating. These include kidnap', lottery phone and Internet love scams.

SPF Community Involvement Division assistant director Raymond Chong said: "So in this respect, we would like to urge the public to exercise caution when they come across deals which appear too good to be true, or when dealing with unknown persons especially through the Internet."

The Integrated Resorts also reported more crimes took place at their premises.

SPF Public Affairs director Ng Guat Ting said: "Cases are mostly petty crime cases, not organised. Should there be any syndicates, they are very loosely organised ones, with the objective to cheat at the desk.

"So we are monitoring casino crimes and so far, we can say that the situation there is well under control."

In 2011, a total of 520 crime cases were reported at both Integrated Resorts, compared to 463 in 2010.

- CNA/wk