Police chief Joe Chow spoke with TVB over scam trends, Interpol General Assembly and smart policing

Police Commissioner Joe Chow says both crime cases and scams have seen declines last year.

Speaking with TVB News, Chow also pins hope on the Interpol General Assembly, which will be hosted in Hong Kong late this year for the first time, in stepping up international collaboration to further combat cross-border crimes.

Around 89,100 crime cases were reported in 2025 marking a drop of 5.9 percent year-on-year.

Scam cases too -- decreased nearly 3 percent, and the amount of scam-related losses plunged more than 11 percent.

(Jacky Lin) Last year, Hong Kong has been seeing a dip in crime figures for the first time. We know that's probably contributed by the dip in scam cases. But we also see that Cambodia has released its latest figure about how it has cracked down on 200 transnational scam farms with the Myanmar-based Kokang scam farms as well.

Do you think the decline is more because of the international crackdown on scam cases, or more because of local efforts?

Police Commissioner Joe Chow said: "We have to look at the composition of the scams. So we are talking about investment scams and some telephone scams. I think those were related to those scam farms that you have just mentioned. But for the rest, most of them, like around 30 percent is talking about the online shopping fraud. So it's nothing to do with those. But for the job overall, I would say our education work and also publicity over the last few years, that it helped a lot. It seriously helped a lot."

(Jacky Lin) Hong Kong is going to host the Interpol General Assembly late this year. We know the situation these days, it might have been overshadowed by the international spotlight on Jimmy Lai's case and some geopolitical tensions. What would the police be working on to balance these factors?

(Chow) The Interpol General Assembly would specifically say that all political-related or religious-related issues that we just have to ignore it, because we are just simply talking about global cooperation in policing. We are trying to make sure that we can speak out the good story of China, Hong Kong, as well as the Hong Kong police.

Chow anticipates that the assembly will likely address and foster international collaboration on tech and cross-border issues, including money laundering.

Locally, authorities are aiming to install 60,000 surveillance cameras across the city by 2028. They are mulling to include cameras installed at other government departments or shopping arcades which volunteer to do so, especially those located at strategic locations or near criminal black spots.

(Chow) Mounting some new cameras, it needs time, it needs resources, etc. So why not? We can make good use of those.