"I am now confident that all Force members will work closely together, in the finest tradition of the Force, in striving to provide an excellent service to the community, and thus play our part in ensuring the continued prosperity and stability of Hong Kong."

Commissioner Mr Tsang Yam-pui and
JPOA Chairman Mr Lau Kam-wah

"It is encouraging to note," said Mr Tsang, "that all members of the Force and, in particular the frontline officers who have been working actively and effectively to fight crime and continue providing a quality service to the public, are taking a positive attitude to the exercise."

Mr Tsang said the Force would roll out the Efficiency Savings Programme systematically as was done for the previous Enhanced Productivity Programme reductions over the past three years. He said that he was confident that the Force could achieve the target set by the government within the coming four years.

"We intend to achieve the government target without jeopardising frontline services, and we are committed to listening to the views of officers of all ranks and grades and to consulting with officers who may be affected by the expenditure cuts," Mr Tsang promised.

In concluding his address, Mr Tsang paid tribute to the JPOA for its continuous support and constructive views on the many significant projects the Force has recently initiated, includingcomputerisation, improvement of service quality, implementation of a healthy life style culture and an improvement in internal communications.

Active support from JPOA

The JPOA Chairman, Mr Lau Kam-wah, said he was sure that the resources remaining after the expenditure savings exercise would be fairly apportioned.

"The opportunity must be taken to review the resources required for certain services in the light of the changing needs of the community. Members of the JPOA will be actively supporting the management by forwarding for consideration our views on the ways in which we can avoid reducing the level of services to the public," Mr Lau stressed.

He noted that significant improvements had been made in the area of management-staff relations in the past year. "There has been excellent two-way communications," he said, "and management obviously attaches great importance to the views expressed by our members.

"As the largest staff association in the Force, JPOA is most grateful to efforts by the management to reduce misunderstandings between us and enable the Force as a whole to improve so many aspects of our services to the public," Mr Lau concluded.

Praise from Founder-President

Also speaking at the ceremony, the JPOA Founder-President, Ms Maria Tam, noted that members of the Force had been doing an excellent job in upholding law and order in Hong Kong.

"We believe the Force will be able to meet future challenges, confidently and capably, especially those challenges posed by cross-boundary crime, international 'globalised' crime and the increasing use of high-technology tools," she said.

A mass turn-out to celebrate the Jubilee Anniversary of JPOA