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Lost and Found The following letter was sent to Commissioner of Police Hui . . . DEAR SIR, As a visitor to Hong Kong, it is very comforting to see that the high standards of the Hong Kong Police Force are being maintained. And my congratulations to you for having such fine people in your service. After returning to Hong Kong from a trip to Guangzhou I realised that I had left my wallet which contained quite a bit of money, my passport, credit cards etc. on the bus. After a mad scramble I located the bus, which was parked at Hung Hom terminal. When I went to the police office at the terminal. When I went to the police office at the terminal. and explained my predicament I was helped by two of your officers, Woman Police Constable 56828 Lee Suk-fan and Police Constable 9240 Li Chi-ming. At the time I was naturally anxious to recover my lost property and was in a bit of a panic about it. It could have been so easy for these two police officers just to shrug their shoulders and tell me that the odds of finding my wallet were incredibly slim. Instead, they were most sympathetic, extremely helpful, and went out of their way to locate it. By communicating with the travel agent who had booked my ticket we were able to find the lost and found section of the bus office where I was most relieved to finally get the wallet back. The honesty of the bus driver who handed it in is also greatlyappreciated. But I was able to reward him personally. This fax to you is my way of thanking WPC Lee and PC Li, who really put themselves out to help someone in need. Regards Barry Matulick Managing Director, Concept Amenities Ltd

RM Lite DEAR SIR, I would like to suggest that the RM system (which provides information on Police General Orders, the Force Procedures Manual, and so forth) be put onto the Internet for greater accessibility by Force members. Also, I would like to know if there are resource centres in addition to the one in the North Point Police Station and whether management will consider setting up a website for police officers to enhance internal communications. A Police Constable in Tseung Kwan O REPLY . . . DEAR SIR, Information Services Wing has recently developed the RM Lite version which is basically the RM text plus a table of contents but without the free-text search capability of the RM system. RM Lite can be installed on standalone computers and, later, on the Police Email Network. Where proven beneficial, RM Lite can also be installed on other computer systems. Contents of the RM system are "For Police Use Only"and there is no plan to put it on the Internet. Within the coming years all police stations will have resource centres similar to the one at North Point. ISW is considering the use of the World Wide Web as a vehicle for internal communication. Albert Hoe SP CS2 IS

Wife returned safely The following letter was sent to CP Hui Ki-on . . . DEAR SIR, I am writing to express my appreciation for the splendid work of your officers at Mongkok Police Station. My wife who is a mental patient at the Kwai Chung Hospital was on a two-week home leave when she lefe our residence without my knowledge. When she did not return home by the next day, I made a missing person's report at the Mongkok Police Station. In the precess I found Inspector Roberts, the Duty Officer, and his team of officers to be extremely efficient and helpful and their demeanour to be most reassuring. The result of their efforts was that my wife was found within four hours. Commendable also was the admirable vigilance of two police constables from Yaumatei Police Station who identified my wife while she was wondering along Bute Street. She had apparently lost her way home. I wish you and your police force every success in the future. Sincerely Lionel F Houghton

Appeal for Scout leaders DEAR SIR, In 1989 a number of Hong Kong Police officers then serving in Shatin District started a scout group which embraces the full range of scouting activities. A successful scout troop depends upon its leaders and we are, frankly, going through a relatively difficult period. None of our leaders now works in Shatin District which makes liaison and recruitment more difficult. We have no women leaders presently which is unsatisfactory as we have quite a number of girl scouts. Our existing leaders, for the most part, work unsociable hours which makes their attendance at scout meetings on a regular basis difficult. We therefore badly need some new leaders and it would be ideal if they were serving police officers from Shatin District. Volunteers from anywhere, however, would be very welcome. I appeal for some new blood for our group. Would interested persons please contact me on 2860-2228, or email me at acpis@police.gov.hk. Alternatively, speak to the Assistant Group Scout Leader, Roger Mui Lam sang(ADVC Crime APT) on 9313-2349. Previous scouting ex perience would be advantageous but is not essential. Energy and enthusiasm are more important. Peter Halliday 57th Shatin West District Group Scout Leader

System improvements DEAR SIR, One of the draw-backs of the computerisation of the working procedures of police duties is the unreasonably long time (40 minutes to and hour) needed for report room Duty Officers to process information via the computer when frontline officers report cases to them. Can the processing of information by the computer be made quicker? D/SSGT Yeung yin-keung KE Anti-Triad Unit REPLY . . . DEAR SIR, The FICS system aims to provide a complete and accurate database of all incidents and crimes reported to the report room. This project is without precedent both in terms of vision and scale. We are well aware that there is room for improvement. In fact, since its roll-out in 1997 we have improved the workflow of FICS to enable efficient usage. Your concerns over the slow response of the FICS terminal in processing cases concerning arrested persons is noted, and I assure you that all pollible steps are being taken to improve the system. Officers of the Communal Information Systems Division (CIS), are testing new hardware which will hopefully replace the existing terminals in police stations. The new terminals will have Intel Pentium class processors on the motherboards, the Random Access Memory (RAM) size in each terminal will be increased from 16M to 64M, and faster, large capacity hard disk drives will be installed. I am confident that with the introduction of the new terminals there will be a noticeable reduction in the time taken to process cases in report rooms. Albert Hoe, SP CS2 IS

OBITUARY Norval Tom Frampton 1931 ¡Ð 1998 NORVAL TOM FRAMPTON, who retired from the Hong Kong police in 1982 in the UK. Born on 22 November 1931 in England, Norval Frampton served as a pilot with the Royal Air Force before joining the Hong Kong Police in 1959. Awarded the Colonial Police Long Service Medal in 1977, retired Superintendent Frampton's plilce career included commanding officers' commendations for his "leadership ability and devotion to duty of the highest order" while attached to Marine District, as well as for "his high standard of work while performing teh duties of Acting Senior Superintendent" from 1977 to 1982. Survived by his widow Christine and their children Kimberley, Lindsay and Zoe, Mr Frampton's funeral ¡Ð which was attended by family, friends and former Hong Kong Police officeres ¡Ð took place at Bournemouth Crematorium on 29 September. Mr Frampton was 67.