With the re-alignment of boundaries, the Sai Kung sub-division took over the northern part of the Sai Kung Peninsula from New Territories District in September, and the area to be policed has increased by almost a third to about 60 square miles. Much of the new area has been designated as country parkland, and the sub-division has set up special rural units to police this area in general, and in particular, the more inaccessable places so as to provide help and assistance to those in such need.
Kwun Tong Division
Kwun Tong Division was established in May 1965. It covers an area of approximately five square miles and a popu- lation of well in excess of 500,000. It lies along the eastern- most part of the Kowloon peninsula, and has a well-defined industrial area, a centrally located town centre and many housing estates which supply the local workforce. For police purposes, the division is divided into three sub- divisions Kwun Tong, Ngau Tau Kok and Rennie's
Mill.
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The number of crimes reported during the year was 7,540 representing 1,174.2 per 100,000 population, as against 6,924 and 1171.9 per 100,000 in 1976. The overall detection rate was 70.3 per cent. Extortion from hawkers, shopkeepers and operators remains a problem. During the year, police were successful in neutralising 116 active syndicates with 428 cases detected.
During the year, the division was successful in com- pletely neutralising two active dangerous drugs trafficking syndicates in Lei Yu Mun and Sau Mau Ping and their organisers are facing trial on conspiracy charges.
The Housing Department carried out a large-scale squatter clearance in September at 1st Village, Kowloon Bay Temporary Housing Area, in which more than 1,000 people were rehoused. The land cleared will eventually be used as a flatted factory building.
In August His Excellency the Governor visited the Kwun Tong divisional headquarters and Kwun Tong sub-division when he met and had discussions with senior officers, and visited the Lam Ting Neighbourhood Policing Unit and the Junior Police Call clubhouse at Yau Tong.
Traffic
Vehicle registrations continued to rise during the year and this significantly contributed to vehicle density. Despite efforts to reduce the toll of deaths, injury and damage to
property on the roads, there was a marked increase in the number of traffic accidents. In the 8,759 accidents reported, 173 people were killed, 3,078 seriously injured and 5,229 slightly injured.
Despite the increased workload caused by the number of additional vehicles on the road, the Mass Transit Railway and other major roadworks, and the rising traffic accident rate, the strength of uniform personnel remained the same as for the previous year. It is anticipated that the extension of the Mass Transit Railway from Kowloon to Tsuen Wan will create further traffic flow and enforcement problems. The poor traffic conditions in the Cheung Sha Wan area, through which three of the four major routes to the New Territories pass, was aggravated during the latter part of the year by major roadworks and redevelopment.
Mass Transit Railway construction also led to a reduction to two southbound traffic lanes in Nathan Road between Boundary Street and Dundas Street which, consequently have been restricted to public buses and goods vehicles, eliminating private cars, taxis and public cars. This restric- tion, combined with additional road diversions, led to greater congestion on other traffic routes.
The Fixed Penalty (Criminal Proceedings) Ordinance was fully implemented by May, and the phased introduc- tion of fixed penalty ticket enforcement led to 66,574 prosecutions for moving traffic offences. This resulted in a very much improved method of dealing with traffic offenders on the spot, and has reduced the number of traffic summons cases, which had taken a considerable time to process through the courts.
The education of the public continued through the Road Safety Section. It supervised 59 school safety patrols and gave talks at schools, which in 1977 reached no fewer than 56,830 students.
Emergency Units
There are two Emergency Units, each convering three divisions on either side of the Kowloon-Canton Railway line. Their main functions are to provide an emergency service in response to 999 calls, to provide an extra police presence on the ground to combat crime.
During 1977, these units responded to 33,056 999 calls. Despite congested traffic conditions they managed to respond to these calls in an average time of less than five minutes. A total of 923 crime arrests were made by the units' personnel during the year.
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