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I and my wife would like to wish all Force | 
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| "The momentous year of 1997 has been a year of success, consolidation and challenge from a policing perspective and the Hong Kong Police will continue to enforce the law fairly, impartially and professionally into the future." | 
Top brass face the press. CP Hui flanked by Deputy Commissioner, Management, Tsang Yam-pui and DCP OPS Wong Tsan-kwong |
| REVIEWING the achievements in
l997, the Commissioner of Police, Eddie Hui Ki-on, reiterated at his annual year-end press conference
last week that the Force had not and would not change the way of policing Hong Kong after her return
to China.
Referring to the concern that public meetings would be stopped and the effect of the handover on policing, Mr Hui said "It's been business as usual". "Similarly, the concern that police officers in senior ranks would leave the service prior to the transfer of sovereignty has proven to be unfounded," he said. In l997, 156 expatriate officers left the Force under Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service package with 402 remaining at the end of last year. Measures had been implemented to identify and train suitable officers to succeed those departing resulting in a total of 285 senior rank promotions during the year, Mr Hui said. Turning to the crime situation, he said the overall crime rate for 1997 had followed the downward trend of the past few years and reached its lowest level in 24 years. "In comparison with 1996, the overall number of crimes recorded in 1997 dropped by 15 per cent and, for the fourth consecutive year, there was a marked decrease in burglaries and robberies, down by 17 per cent and 24 per cent respectively. "Even more pleasing is the 61 per cent drop in the number of bank, watch and gold shop robberies," the Commissioner said, adding "our detection rate of 51.4 per cent compares favourably with other densely populated cities world-wide." Pointing out that determined enforcement action against trafficking and drug abuse had continued, the Commissioner said operations mounted locally and internationally had been successful in preventing the large-scale importation of illicit drugs, particularly heroin, methylamphetamine and ecstasy. | |
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Money laundering was another area in which Police had taken resolute enforcement action. "I believe that our strategy of seizing criminal proceeds in parallel with conventional enforcement action has directly led to the 17 per cent reduction in triad related crime," Mr Hui said. At the end of 1997, the successful confiscation of criminal assets stood at $261 million, with a further $244 million either frozen or pending confiscation. |
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On the downside, Mr Hui explained that the number of homicides had increased from 77 in 1996 to 102 in 1997 with 22 deaths occurring in just two cases involving arsonists setting fire to a commercial building and a residential flat. "Thankfully, the culprits in both of these dreadful cases were quickly apprehended," he noted. Despite the highly publicised influx of child illegal immigrants (IIs) in the third quarter of 1997, the number of IIs decreased by 23.1 per cent from 23,180 in 1996 to 17,819 in 1997. "Since April 1997, we have met our colleagues in the Guangdong Border Defence Bureau on a monthly basis to exchange intelligence and tactics. Such co-operation has greatly enhanced operational efficiency on both sides of the boundary," Mr Hui said. The Commissioner said he was aware of the public's concerns about Police misconduct and corruption, adding that the vast majority of serving officers were fully committed to living up to the core values of integrity and honesty. Mr Hui was determined that the approach would continue to be that of zero tolerance to all forms of Police malpractice and corruption. "The comfort that I take from the number of highly pubicised cases of Police misconduct during 1997 is that the Force detected the wrong-doings and prosecuted those involved." In 1997, there was a total of 2,939 complaints against Police from the public, a decrease of 370 cases compared to 1996, while 52 officers were formally disciplined. Corruption complaints against Police officers also decreased by 12.5 per cent, from 576 in 1996 to 512 in 1997. In 1997, four Police officers were convicted in court for corruption offences compared to 12 in 1996. The Force's commitment to serving Hong Kong people openly was vigorously promoted throughout 1997, Mr Hui said, highlighting two of the new initiatives: the improvement of the report room at North Point Police Station which would become the benchmark Force-wide; and the public opinion surveys which had encouraging and favourable results. Mr Hui concluded that the Force was determined to ensure that Hong Kong would remain as one of the safest and most stable societies in the world and believed that the Force had achieved the mission in 1997. | |
