"We are now some three weeks into the New Year, and therefore I have had time to reflect upon what the last 12 months has meant for the Hong Kong Police. 2001 was yet another busy and eventful year, full of challenges as usual, for the Force. It also marked my first year as Commissioner of this proud organisation. Today, I hope you will allow me to share a few of my observations with you about what happened last year.

Within our remit as Hong Kong's primary law enforcement body lies a responsibility for the prevention and detection of crime. This is of course the primary role of Police organisations around the world and therefore I am very happy to report that Hong Kong not only continues to enjoy a very stable law and order situation, but during the course of last year saw this situation underpinned by a general downturn in almost all categories of crime.

Fighting crime is our major task, but it represents just part of the responsibilities of the Hong Kong Police Force. Whether we are providing round-the-clock policing on our land and sea borders, regulating traffic on our very busy roadways, or responding to numerous "999" calls for assistance from members of the public, our commitments are heavy and varied. However, my observation is that these commitments alone did not make last year a particularly difficult year for us.

What proved more difficult for the Force were the less clearly definable challenges, and by this I mean from an increasing range of societal pressures now faced by our frontline officers. As with each year that has gone before it, in 2001 the pressures on our policemen and women in the street have continued to grow.

The community we serve is in itself an increasingly sophisticated one. It is one, which quite correctly demands the highest standards of service from its public servants, Police officers included. We also have a media which continues to realign its own exacting standards on how it sees its Police Force at work and how it believes we should respond. When you consider that against this backdrop, individual patrol officers have the additional stress of never knowing what lies around the next corner, a policeman's job is indeed becoming an increasingly difficult one.

As I have already suggested our difficulties do not necessarily arise from specific challenges, which confront us on a daily basis. Instead our main hurdle comes from a need to strike the balance in our approach to any given situation or incident.

With this I refer to a full range of situations, encompassing trivial domestic incidents to large scale, headline making events.

Our frontline officers' use of discretion whilst dealing with minor traffic offences is one good example of this. I was recently quoted in several newspapers over a story I had recounted about a taxi driver. This driver had related to me the hardship he was facing as a result of the economic downturn. He then explained how his plight had been compounded when he had received a fixed penalty ticket, a penalty which effectively wiped out his profit for the day. The driver did not dispute the fact that he had committed the particular traffic offence, nor did he state that the Constable who had issued the ticket was outwith his rights.

To me the question was whether a warning in place of the fixed penalty ticket would have been appropriate in this instance. The decision to exercise discretion comes down primarily to the judgement of the individual officer. Of course his supervisors may decide for him that a particular area is a priority location for enforcement action, or that a specific offence is prevalent and therefore should be targeted. But ultimately the decision on how to deal with the infraction falls with that officer, at that time, in that situation. He must use his own experience to make the decision based upon a host of factors including parameters set by the Force, whether the driver had inadvertently committed the offence and the prevailing traffic conditions, etc. It is situations like this, albeit involving only a minor offence, which present difficulties for any officer.

The Police make thousands of direct contacts with the public on a daily basis and many of these involve our officers exercising their constabulary powers in an enforcement role. The use of discretion has a crucial part to play in our enforcement action and it is a tool, which our officers are encouraged to use.

Perhaps nowhere are the difficulties in achieving a balance more clearly seen than on the occasions when we deal with public order events. In 2001 we policed more than 2,000 of these gatherings and during each and every one our approach remained the same. We respect everyone's right to conduct peaceful, lawful protest. We also respect the rights of other members of the public to go about their business safely and unhindered. Where a public order event takes place over a popular recreational area or hinders traffic and pedestrian flow on our main roads, balancing the rights of participants and non-participants becomes a complicated issue. I believe my officers have a true understanding of the spirit of the law in these circumstances and work very hard to uphold the rights of all involved.

Our policing of some events in 2001 saw us being accused in some quarters of being too restrictive on protesters. In other sectors we were seen as being too lenient. We receive criticisms from all sides, but ultimately I believe we did get the balance right. Without exception during lawful protests in 2001, the protesters had the opportunity to make themselves heard, the safety of other members of public was ensured and inconvenience to non-participants was kept to a minimum. Through our use of a combination of tact, patience and professionalism all parties received fair, balanced treatment in the pursuit of their own particular aims.

A particularly dramatic, but yet again fine example of the difficulties Police experience over this question of balance was seen just over a month ago following an armed robbery in the New Territories.

Amidst chaotic and obviously quite frightening scenes for the public, a gang of armed culprits from the robbery were successfully intercepted by the Police in an MTR Station with nobody being injured. Quite surprisingly the next day whilst many in the community and the media hailed the successful Police operation, others vilified the Police response saying how dangerous and irresponsible Police officers had been for entering the MTR with weapons drawn.

How should the Police deal with a situation where armed, dangerous men are running free through our streets? How do we strike the balance between stopping these hoodlums in their tracks whilst ensuring the safety of all members of the public? In my view, the Police again got it right on this occasion. My officers are professional, highly trained and always conscious of the need to safeguard innocent passers-by.

In our efforts to get the balance right in 2001 I genuinely feel that in the vast majority of cases we have been successful. Sometimes we didn't get it 100 per cent correct, but even then I believe we were not far off the mark.

Well, I am not able to predict what the year of 2002 will bring. Certainly the difficulties and challenges I have described will still be there to test us.