9.
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Mrs Elliott accepted a good deal of this, and said they were moves in the right direction, but she did not agree that CAPO could ever be effective because even though it might be quite separate to the division in which a complaint was being investigated, the whole Force was so closely knit and geographically concentrated that a tendency to cover up was inevitable. She feared that the Force might still be dominated by corrupt persons freed from fear of prosecution by the Amnesty. She thought the object of framing was often either to divert police interest from the guilty party, or revenge.
10. I said the effectiveness of CAPO was something on which we simply had to differ. The members of CAPO had been very carefully chosen and the introduction of UK supervision should help. I also told her that on the last occasion I had met members of the Junior Police Officers' Association they had spent much of their time saying how unnecessarily rough they thought CAPO was apt to be. As for officers who had been corrupt and were still in the Force my information was that they were lying very lowand had no support from the JPOA. They were identified and were being watched. Most would have retired within the next two to four years. The good new intake was some insurance against their influence, as was the much strengthened disciplinary and man-management side of the Force.
11.
I mentioned that whereas in the United Kingdom 95% of complaints against the police were found to be without substance, in Hong Kong the figure was 83%. While this might suggest that there was more room for complaint in Hong Kong - there probably was it also suggested that the complaints were being vigorously followed up. I emphasised the need to strike a balance between proper investigation of complaints on the one hand, and on the other harrying the police in investigating malicious and unfounded complaints to such an extent that they evaded doing their duty. She said rather naively that she was surprised to hear that there were any complaints against police in the United Kingdom.
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12.
In conclusion I asked her to confirm her statement that the vast majority of the inmates of prisons she spoke to admitted their guilt. She confirmed this. said it was the most encouraging evidence I had yet had of the working of the police and the judicial system in Hong Kong.
22 September 1978
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