TOKYO: The number of street crimes recognized by police in Japan in January-June dropped 22.4 percent from a year before to 99,573, National Police Agency data showed July 30. 

The decrease came mainly because people refrained from going out amid the novel coronavirus epidemic, according to the NPA.

The total number of crimes detected by police across the country sagged 15.4 percent to 307,644 in the first half of this year. Anti-crime measures by police and citizens, and the growing use of surveillance cameras are believed to have contributed to the decrease.

The monthly number of street crimes, such as bicycle theft and bag snatching, slipped about 5-10 percent in January-March and plunged about 30-40 percent in April-May, when the government’s coronavirus state of emergency was in place. The number declined about 27 percent in June.

The number of bicycle theft cases fell by 17,052 to 58,458 in January-June.

The NPA also said that police detected 6,861 special fraud cases, down by 1,157, with the total amount of damage falling by some 2.38 billion yen to 12.86 billion yen.

Police took action on 136,531 cases, or 44.4 percent, of the total crimes in the first half, down by 4,686 and up 5.6 percentage points, respectively.

JIJI Press