squeeze on drink driving | |
 Breathalysers in more stations will help bring more drink drivers before the courts |
ALL
Traffic officers and additional Police Stations will soon be equipped with hi-tech
breathalysers to step-up drink driving deterrence.
Traffic Branch Headquarters has ordered 90 sets of portable breath screeners and four computerised evidential devices from a German firm after a recent tender exercise. Chief Inspector John Lau said the equipment should be delivered in about three months and will boost the Force's efforts to cut the number of drink-related road accidents. Almost 1,900 people have been convicted since the drink driving legislation was introduced in December 1995. Of the 64,502 drivers tested since then, 2,983 have been found over the limit. |
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Mr Lau said although there was no evidence of an increasing drink driving trend, deterrence must be maintained as about 10 per cent of accidents involved alcohol consumption. "So within a few months we will have 330 screening devices on the road with each Traffic officer equipped with one while on duty, and all our 1,300 Traffic officers will be handling drink driving duties," Mr Lau said."This will help deter drink driving as it will make motorists think twice about getting behind the wheel after a night out. "If the chances of them getting caught are higher they will take a taxi." The chances of a successful prosecution will also be enhanced by the extra evidential equipment. A computerised printout of the test results from the devices are necessary to produce as evidence in court. Mr Lau said having more of them distributed evenly around the Regions would help reduce the problem of drivers sobering up before the official test. "We have only had two to three evidential devices in each Region so far, so if an arrest was made in a remote location, it may take a while for the driver to be brought to the nearest station fitted with the evidential device. "During that time, a driver who was initially screened as positive, may have slipped back under the limit," Mr Lau said. The Branch is now analysing which Stations will be fitted with the four new devices. | |
Cobbling-up for a new set of soles | |
| OFFICERS are shoeing-up
to trial new boots in efforts to establish a design with greater protection, comfort and durability.
Some 200 pairs of boots of various designs have been ordered and will be distributed by Support Wing for the trial. Surveys have found officers were mostly concerned about improving comfort and ankle protection in new boot designs, but costs and durability will also be considered. Other design options will also be studied in the trial including waterproofing and non-slip soles for safety, along with improvements to the ventilation or "breathability" of the boots for comfort. Senior Inspector, Field, James Wong said present Police shoe designs had become obsolete with all the recent improvements in footwear now available on the market. |
 Officers will get a kick out of the three new boot designs on trial |
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"Although they were adequate before, they are not up to the expectations of officers these days," Mr Wong said. "So we have identified a number of suitable new samples and will send them out to frontline units to have them try the boots and give us feedback. From there we will draw up specifications and, with approval of the top management, we will then replace the existing shoes through a tender exercise," Mr Wong said. The existing shoes differ between Junior Police Officers and other police officers, with those for Station Sergeants and above having leather, hob-nailed soles whilst junior officers' shoes have rubber soles. "The new ones will be for everybody," Mr Wong said. The trial is expected to run up to six months. | |
 Benny Ng receives a momento during his recent farewell dinner |
SCORES of friends and colleagues attended a dinner to bid farewell to Director of Operations Benny Ng Ching-kwok on April 23, along with several other officers leaving the Force. CP Eddie Hui Ki-on and other top officers were among the 120 guests who attended the function in the Senior Officers' Mess which saw Mr Ng on the receiving end of jokes and witty stories from his Police career as reminisced by colleagues. Mr Ng even leapt to the table top to give his own speech, which several officers quipped was "uncharacteristically short" at about 15 minutes. |
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He made encouraging remarks about the future of the Force, and also expressed his support for the gathering of officers at social functions, something which Mr Ng has been known to have a penchant for. He then presented a brass gong to the Mess staff to use as an attention-grabber to herd those in the bar to the dining room. Before joining the farewell dinner, Mr Ng attended his last official function as D OPS to present trophies to the champions of an inter-Region basketball competition at the Police Sports and Recreation Club. Mr Ng, 53, moves to head the Correctional Services Department after a 33-year career in the Force. He joined the Force as Inspector in 1966 and moved up the ladder to Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police in 1996. The D OPS post has been taken up by former Director of Management Services Dick Lee Ming-kwai. | |
