SECRET
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Commission Against Corruption (ICAC); the motives for which range from fear by those who have good cause to worry, to alleged persecution of the Force, to criticism of the methods and tactics used by the ICAC. Consequently, any grievance which can be portrayed as genuine and attributed to the ICAC is likely to gain much emotional sympathy, and this will be reinforced by the acquittal of all defendants in the Wong Tai Sin case;
(b) the use of CR55 on this scale and for this
purpose will be seen as setting a precendent which has wide-ranging implications for all Police Officers and its application in this instance may be seen as unfair in view of previous cases, particularly Wong Tai Sin, where those not convicted by the Courts
escaped without penalty;
(c) in more general terms the action will be
seen as a determined but vindictive attempt by Government to regain "face" in the wake of the amnesty by paving the way for a hard line to be taken against the JPOA and any dissenting Policemen in future, and as a means of re-asserting the authority of the ICAC;
(d) since the formulation of the JPOA there has been a persistent feeling among many of its members that the amnesty was merely a ruse by Government to defuse a dangerous situation, and that Government and the Police authorities do not intend to honour their side of the deal. Government action against the Yaumatei group may enable the militants to rekindle this distrust and claim that they, and the Force as a whole, are being made scapegoats; and
(e) the "moderate" faction in the JPOA would prefer to divest itself from the interests of the interdicted officers and, provided the latter do not demand militant support in the face of retirement under CR55, may allow the Yaumatei issue to quietly fade away.
Other Police Associations
7.
During the events of October/November 1977 the other Police Associations, particularly the Local Inspectors' Association, showed much sympathy for the interdicted officers. Many of the members of these Associations share to some degree the attitudes of the Rank and File towards the ICAC. They are likely therefore, to sympathise with the argument that those to be retired under CR55, when tried in Court,
.../are