The Hong Kong Police Force first introduced a school liaison programme in 1974 as part of the strategy on community policing. The function was, in the first 10 years, performed by dedicated police officers appointed as School Liaison Officers (SLO). In 1984, with the introduction of the Neighbourhood Police Co-ordinator Scheme, SLO’s function was integrated into the duties of Neighbourhood Police Co-ordinators who also had the overall responsibility for community relations.
However, due to the rising juvenile crime problem and in order to focus efforts on police school liaison, 25 SLO posts were established in 1988, in all police districts except those lacking student populations, such as the airport and rail (then called MTR) districts.
As part of a comprehensive programme of support services for youth at risk, 33 Secondary School Liaison Officer posts at Sergeant rank were created in 2001 to strengthen police commitment in juvenile crime prevention work in focusing at secondary school children from Secondary one level under the multi-agency approach. It indicated that to reduce young people’s inclination to seek recognition and support from gangs, preventive programmes should focus on early identification of and intervention for potential-at-risk youth. With the policy of compulsory education, it is believed that ‘school’ is the best contact point to reach students and parents for this purpose.