Crime rate up 10%, incidence of rape rises

Crime Reporters and Photographers Association of Thailand president Siroj Mingkwan said yesterday that his agency had studied the crime statistics reported by the Royal Thai Police and found that 458,188 crimes had been committed, about 8.25 per cent, or 34,935 cases, more than the previous year.

It grouped the crimes into four categories: property (theft and burglary), homicide, sex, and vice (such as narcotics and gambling), he said.

However, most actually declined except for motorcycle thefts, which increased 1 per cent, and drug crimes, which went up 43 per cent.

In 2008 there were 202,852 drug crimes, occurring at the rate of 563 per day or 24 per hour, he said. There were 20,039 motorcycle thefts, an average of 56 per day, and 4,644 rapes, about 13 per day.

Police made arrests about 50 per cent of the time. Siroj cited 57,457 complaints of theft with arrests in only 25,150 cases and 3,974 complaints of premeditated homicide with arrests in 1,920 cases. He noted police had tried to increase the arrest rate by rewards for information leading to an arrest and issuing a special calendar with wanted criminals' pictures.

The study found that most rapists were family members or close acquaintances of their victims and that easy access to technology increased the recording of sexual acts by photos or video clips for blackmail, extortion or shaming the victims. Many such clips were posted on the Internet, he said.