.2.
if a gambling den existed over a day or so in a district where I had charge of detectives the Divisional Officers, Uniform and Crime, demanded a detailed explanation as to the time it opened up and was raided. Senior officers in districts could lose their appointments if it was established there was a time lag before police action was taken. Disciplinary action was always severe. It certainly kept me on my toes. Every detective was responsible for a section in the district to keep me fully informed day and night as to any new vice or gambling den opening up. The same applied to movement of criminals. I held the detective sergeants and detective inspectors, Chinese, to maintain close supervision of this class of work.
As have mentioned before, we also had headquarters Crime Branch which operated independently of stations in districts. The se were senior officers of long experience who acted directly under direction of the Deputy Commissioner. Crime Branch. The integrity of all officers attached to that branch was beyond doubt. Whenever a case was believed not to be proceeding as well as expected at station level, the Crime Branch Headquarters officers would swing into action to take charge to ensure successful results were speedily obtained. That situation of course led station detectives to give of their best to avoid Losing out to the Crime Branch.
As i have advised before, I had to serve two years with the Special Branch and urime Branch of the force. This was compulsory in order to build up experience. There was also another branch at vheadquarters which operated under the direction of the Deputy Commissioner, Crime Branch. This was the Narcotics Branch which acted independently from district stations in the same way as the Crime Branch officers at headquarters. For example it was considered a black mark if they arrived at a station after carrying out arrests in the district at a vice den. Station detectives were then "carpetted" to explain their lack of vigilance. The same would apply to uniform serants and inspectors.
I am satisfied from what i have read and heard of about the present corruption problem in Hong Kong, that with appropriate drastic action as was carried out in Shanghai to rid the International Settlement of this scourge, that it could be freed in a matter of days, not weeks, months or years. To my mind and experience corruption cannot exist without the knowledge of senior officers. When it exists they fail in their duty to put a stop to it. This calls for severe disciplnary action.
At the same time, well realise that many good officers in Hongkong must feel they are not in a position to help put a stop to the corruption. Attempts by them could well lead to trouble and pressure to render their efforts as useless, or to do damage to their careers. So they stay silent. I was confronted with such situations at the early part of my career in Shanghai and had in mind resigning. With the re-organisation which was aimed to remove all corrupt practices and build up efficacy to the highest levels in all departments I remained to tackle the work and build up a career. The Shanghai force became widely known as equal to the best in the world by way of efficiency and as incorruptible..