The city is getting safer
A police officer, Cao Fudong, hands a resident, surnamed Ma, his iPhone on Wednesday. Ma's phone was stolen in July at a Metro station.
Shanghai is becoming a safer city as more crimes are detected.
The success is attributed to the city police launching a special campaign to crack down on crime. The campaign, which began on August 16, targets robberies, gambling, pornography and drugs.
Since then and as of Monday, criminal reports to the police declined by 10 percent over the same period last year, while the detection rate of criminal cases rose 9.1 percent.
One case successfully resolved concerns a gang suspected of stealing more than 200 mobile phones, worth 400,000 yuan (US$60,270). A total of 27 suspects were caught on September 14.
“Most of the phones we found from the suspects were stolen within a month before they were caught,” said Jin Chan, an officer with the Metro police. “The suspects sell the phones quickly and data on most phones were wiped out the day they were stolen.”
The Metro police and police of Baoshan District busted the gang after nearly two months of investigation.
Yangpu District’s police this month arrested members of a telecom scam group operating across the country and brought 31 suspects from Nanchang, in Jiangxi Province, back to Shanghai.
Since the launch of the campaign, detection rates on theft and fraud in the city rose 12.6 percent over the same period last year, and the detection rate on telecom scams was up 107.9 percent. A total of 13 telecom gangs were busted.
Meanwhile, the police are also cracking down online crimes violating citizens' privacy. The detection rate on stealing or illegally revealing citizens’ personal information is up a whopping 166 percent over last year.
Stolen mobile phones confiscated by the Metro police and police in Baoshan District.
