With a land coverage of 27 square kilometers and a population of some 460,000, Macao, receives more than one million tourists a month, according to this year's official counting.

Statistics show that the number of criminal cases in the first three quarters of this year came to 7,186, a drop of 4 percent from the same period of last year.

Local media attributed the good public order to the importance attached by the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), hard efforts made by public security force and the support from the central government and relevant departments in China's mainland.

"Only by maintaining a good public order, can economy develop steadily," Macao's Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah stressed soonafter he took the post in December 1999.

The Macao security forces' crackdown on criminal offenses has effectively protected residents' life and property, and maintained public order and social stability over the past five years.

Macao was haunted with gangdoms, robbers, murderers and kidnappers before it returned to the motherland in 1999.

According to Cheong Kuoc Va, secretary for security of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the public security forces dealt a heavy blow on organized crimes and controlled and improved public order in the first year after Macao's return to the motherland. At the same time, they streamlined the organizational structure by way of strengthening jail organization and preparing for the establishment of the customs office and the general policebureau.

The public security forces optimized their operational capacityand improved personnel quality and the image of police in the second year, improved their internal management to raise work efficiency in the third year, upgraded personnel quality and introduced advanced technology and equipment in the fourth year, and maintained good public order to guarantee citizens' normal life and work this year.

In addition, the public security forces have stressed the publicity of observance of laws and regulations among residents, young people in particular.

Police departments have kept close contacts and cooperation with schools, organizations, families and relevant government departments. They have regularly sponsored lectures and seminars on how to prevent young people from committing crimes.

As a result, the number of criminal cases involving young people has declined markedly in recent years, and many released juvenile delinquents have become well-disciplined citizens.

Cheong Kuoc Va said that a wide-rang of overseas cooperation has greatly helped maintain social stability of this special administrative region.

Macao police have strengthened cooperation with their counterparts in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong by regularly holding work meetings and taking joint actions to deal with criminal activities.