Police commissioner Raymond Siu on Saturday said cracking down on triads and violent crimes are some of his top priorities.

Siu made the comments following the Police College's passing-out parade, where reporters asked him about two men who were attacked by a group of knife-wielding men outside a Yuen Long industrial building in the early hours of Wednesday, leaving one dead and another injured.

The commissioner said there were a total of 3,313 assault cases in the first eleven months of last year, down from the same period in the previous year.

"We are focusing on these violent cases, and we will spare no effort. In addition to our intelligence collection to cracking down on their illegal activities, we will also use other means, such as cutting off their financial resources," he said.

"We also have many intelligence-led operations. In the past, our arrest rate for triad-related crimes was actually close to 40 percent. It is up to us to take the initiative to carry out operations to attack them."

Siu also said that the police adopts a zero-tolerance policy towards any illegal or disciplinary violations and will handle such cases seriously.

He was referring to the case where police arrested 12 people, including seven officers, on suspicion of money laundering, involving about HK$10.5 million.

"We will definitely deal with any colleague who violates laws and discipline. On the other hand, we have many colleagues. Colleagues who violate laws only account for a very small part of the entire police force," he said.

"Of course, we think even one case is too many but I hope everyone understands that we maintain public order and prevent and combat crime in the Hong Kong Police Force. Most of our colleagues work very hard, and our low crime rate today is also the result of our colleagues’ hard work."

Meanwhile, Siu said the police force is steadily increasing in size, with the number of applications rising by 46 percent in the current fiscal year, compared to the one before.

He said various measures are being implemented, including a recruitment fast-track process at overseas universities.