China saw a decline of serious violent criminal cases but a rise of property infringement cases in the first three months of this year, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday.

Spokesman Wu Heping said at a press conference that in the first quarter, a total of 926,000 criminal cases were put on file, almost the same as that in the corresponding time last year. But the number of serious violent cases declined. The cases of murder, explosion, arson and rape dropped 12.4 percent, 7.8 percent, 15.3 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively.

In the meantime, Wu said, the cases of property infringement increased by 1.6 percent over the same period last year. Theft, defraud and robbery rose 1.1 percent, 9.4 percent and 4.9 percent respectively.

According to Wu, the detective capability of Chinese police showed an obvious improvement, as 302,000 criminal cases were cracked in the first three months, up 2.5 percent over that of last year.

He also noted that Chinese police handled 1.269 million cases concerning public security in the period, down 10.5 percent year-on-year. A total of 1.049 million public security cases was settled, down 10.7 percent.

Source: Xinhua