Crime rate rises by 5% in August 2023

The overall crime rate increased by 5 percent during the month of August as 1,524 reports were registered compared to 1,456 reports for the same period last year.

Police have also highlighted that while serious crimes recorded an overall decrease of 20 percent for the month of August, offences that recorded increases were aggravated burglary, act with intent to commit rape and theft of motor vehicle.

Prevalent crimes registered during the month of August, were theft, burglary, assault, unlawful possession of illicit drugs and damaging property.

A number of theft cases had multiple counts.

There were 6 reports that had multiple counts (12 counts, 14 counts, 17 counts, 24 counts, 25 counts and 39 counts).

All of these cases involved withdrawal of cash or use of cheque for personal gains through bank cards.

According to the Police, while crimes against women recorded a decrease of 11 percent, domestic violence dominates the number of reports.

Of the 177 reports, 16 percent were sexual offences while 84 percent were assault related.

45 cases were domestic related perpetrated by a spouse, a de-facto partner or a relative.

Acting Commissioner of Police, Juki Fong Chew says the festive season will be demanding on operations and with petty thefts on the rise, stringent measures need to be put in place to counter offences that are opportunistic in nature.

Mobile phones, jewellery, cash and electronic gadgets were mainly targeted by offenders with operations looking also at the receivers of stolen goods.

Acting Commissioner Chew also says while the trend has shown that from January to June 2023, the number of overall crime cases is consistently lower than the five-year average, there is still a need to address opportunistic crimes which require consistent efforts of proactive community policing throughout the five divisions.

Increases in crime were recorded in the Western, Eastern and Northern Divisions while the Southern and Central Divisions recorded decreases.

In other Key Performance Indicators for the month of August, there was a reduction in reported crimes against women by 11 percent and crimes against children had a reduction of 38 percent.