SHANGHAI police say robberies and frauds from November 25 to now are down 15 percent over the same period last year, but arrests are up 4 percent.

More plainclothes officers have been deployed in shopping centers such as Xujiahui and the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall to watch out for pickpockets.

In Hongkou District, police said they have caught 25 pickpockets around Qipu Road shopping malls, the Cloud Nine Mall and Sichuan Road N. since the beginning of this year, with the number of cases reported dropping 90 percent.