Eastern Police Station.
Upper Levels Police Station.
Western Police Station.
Aberdeen Police Station.
Stanley Police Station.
Pokfulam Police Station.
Administrative Bleck and Compound at Central
The Marine Police has a fleet of 21 vessels ranging from ocean tugs to motor boats, all fitted with radio telephony. Six new landing craft with outboard motors are on order. During the year the Marine Police has co-operated to a considerable extent with the Royal Navy and the Commando Brigade and successful raids against armed men on outlying islands have also been carried out.
The C.I.D. comprises the Detective Branch and the Special Branch. The former has its Identification Bureau, Records and Statistics office, Forensic Laboratory, and specialist sections such 21 Commercial Crime, Anti-Corruption, and Homicide Squad. The Special Branch is responsible for the prevention and detection of all activities subversive of peace and good order and also operates the Immigration Department, Registry of Aliens and Registration of Societies.
The authorised establishment of the Police Force was 3,911, the actual strength at the end of 1949 baing 3.477. The Force is composed of 42 Gazetted officers, 365 Inspectorate (240 expatriate and 125 non-expatriate including 1 Woman Sub-Inspector), 484 Shantung Police, who are recruited because of their superior physique, 2,462 Cantonese including a small number of Eurasians and 124 Indians, and is relieved of all but strictly Police duties by a civilian staff of 738.
HISTORY OF THE POLICE FORCE TO 1908
The earliest allusion to the Hongkong police is to be found in Mr. Tarrant's "Early History of Hongkong," and relates to an incident which occurred in December, 1842, when a Mr. Fearon having hoisted a flag on a marine lot to which claim was also laid by the Admiral on behalf of the Govern- ment, "The Land Officer went to the place with some policemen and hauled the flag down." The next reference (in the same year) is to the European police suffering much from malarial fever, which was attributed to their night duty, as they always reported themselves sick in the morning. There were at that time nearly thirty European constables, and their efforts were supplemented by those of watchmen, employed by European householders and by the leading commercial houses. One firm, that of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., employed twelve of these watchmen at a cost of £60 a month. The watchmen signified their alertness by beating bamboo drums, but as this was not conducive to peace and quietness at night the practice was put a stop to by an ordinance. The result of this prohibition, however, was said to be an increase in crime. Armed burglars made several entries into the houses of merchants during 1843, and even Government House was invaded, whilst piracies and daylight robberies were of frequent occurrence. A slight check was imposed on the marauders by an enactment that all Chinese abroad after dark should carry lanterns.
In 1844 Captain Haiy, of the Madras Native Infantry, was appointed Superintendent of Police, evidently in addition to his military command, for it is recorded that when he was required with his regiment, Captain Bruce, of the Royal Irish Regiment, acted for him in the civil capacity. In the same year it was decided that a properly constituted police force should be organised. On July 3rd the Colonial Secretary issued a circular to the principal merchants on the subject, inviting their suggestions, and pointing out that the chief difficulty was to find a class of men suitable for street work, as the exposure proved fatal to the British. The result was the appointment of Mr. C. May, an inspector of K Division of the Metropolitan Police, to the command of the force, at a salary of £500 a year, with two sergeants at $250 a year each. Instructions were given that the force should be raised from the military and marines in China, that good pay should be offered, and that any man who misconducted himself should be sent back to the ranks of any regiment in Hongkong. Accordingly a force of 78 Europeans, 34 Indians, and 48 Chinese was formed upon the model of the Royal Irish Constabulary and dressed in uniforms of rifle-green, which led to their being dubbed "the greencoats" by the Chinese. Whether these numbers included the harbour police is not apparent; presumably they did not, for the latter were placed under the Chinese Revenue Service, in accordance with a clause in a Treaty. Crime, however, showed no appreciable abatement, for the reason, as stated by Dr. Eitel in his "Europe іп China," that "Sir J. Davis found himself handicapped in his efforts to suppress crime (like every successive Governor of Hongkong) by the constant influx of criminals from the mainland.” In another passage the reverend gentleman observes: "The failure of the police to prevent crime was unavoidable, as the extraordinary activity of Chinese criminals was the natural corollary of the Taiping and Triad Rebellions, and as the police force was deficient in numerical strength from financial considerations."
Sir J. Bonham organised a detective department in 1848. and placed in charge of it Mr. D. R. Caldwell, as assistant superintendent: but the police force itself had been seriously reduced in numbers-whether as a result of economy or from
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