Shenzhen's crime rate at the end of last year showed a marked improvement over the June-August period and the police presence on the street will remain constant during the Spring Festival.

The number of robberies last week decreased 15.5 percent over the previous week.

Yu Xinguo, deputy director-general of the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau, said police registered 106,797 criminal cases in Shenzhen last year, 9.6 percent more than the previous year. Altogether 30,019 cases were cleared up last year, an increase of 57.2 percent over 2002.

Police had organized various campaigns since last September to crack down on crime and had banned illegal motorcycles, achieving good results, said Yu.

The fourth season particularly witnessed a in the number of criminal cases.

Since last September, a number of notorious criminal cases had been solved involving child kidnapping and trafficking and women kidnap-murders

Problems still exist in the social security environment, said Yu. The crime rate remains high, with some serious violent crimes.

This year the city will recruit 3,000 policemen, one-third of whom will be assigned to Bao'an District, which has the most serious crime rate.

Since last October 39,000 people from four levels -- police, office police, citizens and armed police -- have been organized to patrol the streets.

Yu said the mass patrols would remain in place during the Spring Festival and extend until the end of February. Tight security would be guaranteed in key areas such as parks, department stores, checkpoints and airports.

(Shenzhen Daily January 20, 2004)