The public order role of the Administration under the Basic Law is fundamentally devolved to the Force as a principal law enforcement agency.

The Force has a para-military structure and capability in its Police Tactical Unit (PTU), and the Emergency Unit (EU). While undertaking crime prevention and emergency incident response in their normal daily operation, PTU and EU can be re-formed into and mobilised as an internal security (IS) structure in face of IS threats. On a daily basis, during non-IS situations, EU is a mobile team responding to 999 calls and emergency incidents like robbery and fires. Almost all officers within their first five years of service receive PTU training. The concept of the EU as an extension of PTU training and attachment also provides a valuable source of internal-security-trained officers round the clock on the street.

There are also specialised units having responsibility for internal security like the Special Duties Unit, the VIP Protection Unit, and the Explosive and Ordnance Disposal Unit. These specialist units are supported by specialist-trained volunteer cadres of officers, like the Police Negotiation Cadre, the Search Cadre and the Disaster Victim Identification Unit, which can be mobilised from different regions during an emergency call-out. These trained cadres discharge their specialist role as a secondary duty and provide an additional and sufficiently large pool of trained supporting resources to help out in any major incident.

Emergency tactical response in Hong Kong is not only the specialised role of a dedicated unit but is also the responsibility of every police officer, which would mean the whole Force is professionally and adequately trained and can be mobilised at any time.

The Force is also involved in policing international events in Hong Kong. An example was policing the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005. In internationalised serious and organised crime, such as human smuggling, gun gangs and sensitive investigations, regional and international co-operation and sharing of crime intelligence are the strategies in tracking down transnational crime syndicates.

Further Reading (Available in Force Library) * HKPF (2006) "In Partnership to Combat Crime" in Hong Kong Police Review 2006, pp. 12-23.

"Policing in Hong Kong" Report Series 8 of 11