Fatal criminal cases halved over decade: police

A senior Chinese police officer on Wednesday revealed that the number of cases involving criminal fatalities this year had dropped to half the number a decade ago.

Serious violent crimes, such as homicide, explosions, rape and robbery, have decreased for 10 consecutive years, according to Li Wei, vice minister of public security, at a meeting on enhancing police vigilance against crimes ahead of upcoming New Year and Spring Festival holidays.

Li called on the police to stand firm on terrorism, to deal with other serious violent crimes appropriately, and to increase the clear-up rate, especially in cases involving fatalities.

The police must take seriously crimes involving syndicates, people trafficking and guns.

According to Li, Chinese police have solved more than 2.15 million crimes related property infringements and have ended the activities of 14,000 criminal groups this year.