CIVIL AND ADMINISTRATION
Civilians employed by the Force come under the direction of the Police Civil Secretary who is the Commissioner's chief adviser on civil administration, finance, establishment, planning and research and public relations.
Civilian personnel
This division supports the Police Civil Secretary in the management of some 3,400 civilian staff employed through- out the Force. The civilian element now constitutes nearly 17 per cent of the Force establishment, and covers a wide range of mainly administrative and technical functions.
Included among civilian staff are traffic wardens, intro- duced during 1974 as part of a continuing civilianisation scheme. The scheme was designed to relieve police person- nel of duties capable of being undertaken by civilians.
A 1972 committee on civilianisation recommended that a total of 843 disciplined posts should be considered for transfer to civilian officers, or to other departments. To date 368 posts have been civilianised, with a further 87 approved and awaiting the recruitment of suitable civilian officers. This is a continuing exercise, and the total number of posts now encompassed by the scheme has increased to 1,053.
Finance
Even though the worst of the recession was over and the financial climate was gradually improving, economy and prudence in expenditure by the Force were at no time relaxed during the year. Tight financial control was main- tained to confine the Force's expenditure within its overall budget and unforeseen additional expenditure was covered from savings in other areas. These objectives were achieved without affecting efficiency and the Force's share of limited funds during the recession was sufficient to permit it to maintain a high standard of public service.
The budget for the financial year ending March 1977 was $469,518,000, of which $396,368,000 covered salaries and allowances, $39,529,000 recurrent expenditure and $33,621,000 capital expenditure. An additional $28,418,000 was provided for the maintenance and upkeep of the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force.
The Force Internal Audit team continued its
programme of auditing individual formations' accounts and checking procedures. The effectiveness of this procedure was re- flected by the absence of any adverse comment in the Director of Audit's report for the financial year 1975-6.
Stores
Apart from specialised items such as radio stores maintained and controlled by the Communications and Transport Division, general stores are managed by the Finance and Stores Division.
Because of limitations on the amounts allocated for the purchase of uniforms and equipment, it was necessary to economise by restricting the issue of new and replacement items of clothing, and by extending the life of existing stores.
Each police officer is issued with approximately 40 items of clothing and equipment on personal charge. Control over the issue of such a scale of items, and their replacement for about 20,000 regular and auxiliary officers, is obviously a formidable task.
Uniforms are manufactured by a contractor from material purchased both locally and from overseas. Other equipment radio spares, arms and ammunition are either purchased locally or from overseas in co-operation with the Govern- ment Supplies Department.
Arms
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The Force Armoury is responsible for the maintenance and annual inspection of small arms held by the Force and also by the Preventive Service of the Commerce and Industry Department, the abattoirs managed by the Urban Council, and the Agriculture and Fisheries Department.
An inspection and repair programme ensures that the arms held by both the regular and auxiliary forces are kept in good condition. Force expansion has brought about increased holdings of arms and ammunition. During the year another 2,100 weapons of various types were added, bringing the total Force holding to approximately 20,000.
The year also saw the introduction of a training scheme for technical apprentices who will eventually qualify as armourers. This scheme is of particular significance as no similar training is offered elsewhere in Hong Kong, and it is not, therefore, possible to recruit experienced technicians from other sources.
Catering
As is common with most police forces throughout the world, facilities are provided in police stations, on seagoing launches, and in specialist formations to feed police officers.
Police Public Relations Bureau
The year was one of innovation and change in the Force's approach and attitude to community and press relations. The main functions of the Police Public Relations Bureau
are:
to encourage and improve communication and mutual understanding between the police and the community
to foster a police-community partnership in the fight against crime
to create and maintain good working relationships with all sections of the media so that the police image and message is presented fairly and objectively
Unlike crime, or traffic, which can be measured statistical- ly, the results of the Police Public Relations Bureau's efforts are more difficult to quantify. However, they can be illus- trated by increased crime reporting, better community co-operation, response to Junior Police Call, more extensive reporting of the positive aspects of police work, involvement in a wide range of television and radio output and so on.
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