Study ranking Hong Kong 13th safest city in the world prompts calls for more surveillance cameras

Hong Kong, meanwhile, scored 32.93 overall, behind Taiwanese capital Taipei with 32.91 points.

Tokyo ranks second in the ranking, followed by Toronto, Sydney and Zurich completing the top five.

The city lags behind its regional rival Singapore in personal safety (risks from violence, natural disasters and economic vulnerabilities) and digital security, referring to the risks of online attacks or identity theft.

In terms of crime risk, Hong Kong comes in fourth, slightly ahead of Singapore, which ranked sixth.

According to a study by the consumer information platform of the American business magazine Forbes, Singapore ranks second in digital security and thirteenth in personal security. Hong Kong, on the other hand, comes in 21st place in both categories.

Lawmaker Edmund Wong Chun-sek, who sits on the Legislative Council’s security committee, called for more surveillance cameras in public spaces.

“It can improve public perception of security,” said Wong, also security affairs spokesperson for the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.

Wong said installing more CCTV cameras was essential to improving security levels.

In an interview with the Post on Thursday, security chief Chris Tang Ping-keung revealed plans to introduce facial recognition technology into surveillance cameras installed in public spaces by police.

Currently, 15 cameras with facial recognition are installed as part of a pilot project and will be increased to 2,000 to 2,500 per year from 2025.

Hong Kong aims to install 2,000 CCTV cameras, or 1.8 per square kilometre, by the end of the year. Singapore already has 90,000, or 128.6 per square kilometre.

“Another reason may be that Singapore has the death penalty, but Hong Kong does not,” Wong said.

“I am not suggesting that Hong Kong should consider capital punishment. Each place will use different systems depending on its social situation. But consideration should be given to severely punishing offenders.”

According to Singapore Police figures, physical crime cases fell slightly by 1.1 per cent to 19,966 in 2023, from 20,193 in 2022.

Hong Kong recorded 90,276 crimes in 2023, compared to 70,048 in 2022 and 64,428 in 2021. In 2018, 54,225 crimes were reported.

Nearly 21,400 crimes were recorded in the city in the first quarter of 2024, a 3.9% increase from the same period in 2023.

Wong also noted that the increase in scam cases in recent years had also made people feel less safe in their daily lives, although he agreed that this was a global trend.

The number of deception cases in Hong Kong rose from 19,249 in 2021 to 27,923 in 2022. The figure reached 39,824 in 2023, a 10-year high, according to Hong Kong police data.

Singapore also saw an upward trend, with scams and cybercrimes increasing from 33,669 in 2022 to 50,376 in 2023.

But lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun took a more critical stance on the investigation’s findings, questioning whether political considerations were involved.

He said some factors, such as the risk to personal safety, were not defined clearly enough.

He added that Hong Kong scored well on crime risk but poorly on personal safety.

“It seems similar to (crime risk), but it’s not clear why Hong Kong scores so low,” Tien said.

He also noted that the study took into account the U.S. State Department’s travel security assessments, asking: “Were political considerations taken into account more than others?”