Less crime reported across nation this summer

The reported criminal and public security cases recorded nationwide over the past three months have decreased by 16.8 percent and 14.2 percent respectively, compared to the same period last year, with the overall public security situation continues to improve, the Ministry of Public Security announced on Friday.

Li Jiexiang, political commissar of the ministry's intelligence command center, said at a news conference that the police have streamlined the process to crack down on prevalent crimes during the summer, including assault, burglary, provoking troubles and quarrels, and other common illegal activities over the past three months.

On June 24, the ministry deployed a nationwide summer public security rectification operation, targeting prominent public security issues that have high occurrence in summer. This is the third consecutive year that the ministry has carried out the operation.

The ministry deployed a 100-day nationwide operation to crack down on crimes and improve public security in June 2022, after the high-profile case of several men brutally beating four women at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan of Hebei province on June 10 went viral.

This year's operation resulted in the resolution of 29,000 trouble provoking cases, 453,000 assault cases, 19,000 burglary cases, over 7,700 cases of indecent assault and 66,000 cases of reckless driving, according to the ministry.

Li noted that a concentrated cleanup was conducted in 33 cities and counties where issues related to pornography and theft were prominent.

Zhang Xiaopeng, deputy director of the ministry's public security administration bureau, said that the ministry directed local public security agencies to closely combat various forms of gambling activities and crimes related to pornography based on local circumstances, leading to the resolution of 19,000 criminal cases and capturing of 76,000 suspects.

The ministry and provincial public security departments have established routine assessment and undercover mechanisms to address issues related to gambling and pornography. Crackdowns on online solicitation, pornography-related apps and related illegal activities were also intensified, capturing over 5,600 individuals, he said.

Furthermore, a special focus was placed on combating illegal gambling venues around football matches, especially during the period of major international football events such as the European Championship and Copa America, resolving 825 criminal cases and identifying gambling funds exceeding 30 billion yuan ($4.28 billion).

Zhang highlighted the efforts to trace the roots of gambling and prostitution crimes and target related criminal networks.

"Through the case, we also analyzed and investigated the shortcomings of the involved industry supervision and notified the competent regulating departments to promote the comprehensive governance of these sectors," he said.

Results were also achieved in combating telecom fraud, with over 11,000 suspects involved in various fraudulent activities were captured, and over 1,300 homicide cases and another 565 long-pending homicide cases were resolved.

Besides, 109 cases of abduction and trafficking were solved, including 52 long-pending cases, and 2,505 missing and abducted women and children were rescued and recovered, according to the ministry.

Shi You, deputy director of the ministry's network security protection bureau, stated that the public security authorities will apply successful strategies from the operation to their daily crackdown efforts, focusing on severe violent crimes and offenses that infringe upon the rights of women and children. The crackdown will continue to target prevalent crimes such as gambling, drugs, food and drug safety and environment violations, theft, robbery and fraud, consolidating the achievements of the operation.

Wang Qingyun contributed to the story.