The figure of crimes and illegal activities in Beijing last year dropped the lowest point decades, Beijing police said on Wednesday.

The number of criminal offenses and illegal behaviors in the capital decreased by 40.9 percent compared with the peak over the past 10 years statistics from the city’s Public Security Bureau showed.

"We received more than 7 million calls from residents in 2014, a 7.7-percent drop year-on-year,” said Li Jianhua, a police official in charge of the bureau’s public security department. -? But the bureau is public security. That’s why they’re called Public Security Bureau…

Of the calls, 81,000 were related to criminal offenses, down 8.8 percent year-on-year, Li said. While the numbers of calls and calls related to criminal offenses were down, Li added that the number of criminal cases the city’s police solved in 2014 increased.

According to Li, cases related to drug offenses boomed in 2014.

"We broke 3,417 drug-related cases and arrested 3,394 suspects in 2014, both figures increased by more than 50 percent year-on-year,” he said.

The country’s police developed stricter campaigns against drug crimes last year under requirements from the Ministry of Public Security.

“The exposure of celebrities caught using drugs or helping others take drugs in the capital also highlighted the significance of cracking down on such offenses,” said Chen Shuaifeng, a drug expert at People’s Public Security University of China.

On Jan 9, Jaycee Chan, son of Chinese kung fu superstar, Jackie Chan, was sentenced to six months and fined 2,000 yuan ($322) after he helped others take drugs in Beijing last year.

In May, Li Daimo, 26, who rose to fame on the TV talent show The Voice of China, was sentenced to nine months for the same charge with Jaycee Chan in the capital and released in December.

"Disclosing drug cases involving the stars will warn and educate others and ask more people to pay high attention to fight drug offenses,” Chen said.

Chen confirmed that it is a challenge for police to crack down on drug related crimes, “because offenses, such as the drug trafficking, in Guangdong and Yunnan provinces are still serious.”

Guangdong, as an area of drug manufacturing, especially smokable methamphetamine, or “ice”, must be continually regarded as a target for the police to crack down on this year, Chen added.

caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn