DISCUSSIONS WITH THE CHIEF
MR MURRAY'S VISIT TO HONG KONG: SECRETARY/ATTORNEY-GENERAL ON 24 SEPTEMBER
THE ROYAL HONG KONG POLICE FORCE (RHKPF)
1.
Suggested topics for discussion are:
(a) How is Mr Roy Henry doing as Commissioner?
(b) The morale and effectiveness of the Force in the light of
the Crane reforms.
Background
2.
The RHKPF is just emerging from six traumatic years during which its establishment has been rapidly expanding and its methods
and deployment have undergone radical changes. At the same time it found itself the principal focus of attention of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (which was set up in 1973 in response to public concern over corruption in the police force). This con- junction of circumstances led to a crisis at the end of 1977, when the RHKPF was prevented from mutinying only by a last minute decision by the Governor to grant a partial amnesty for corruption offences committed prior to 1977.
3. This near-mutiny led to a review of the structure, methods and
working conditions of the RHKPF, carried out by a Home Office team headed by one of HM Inspectors of Constabulary, Mr Jim Crane. Mr Crane made a large number of recommendations for changes, most
of which have been accepted and implemented. He paid a follow up visit (his last, since he has moved) in the spring of this year.
4.
All these developments are now beginning to show results. Serious crime is down, detection rates are up, syndicated corrup- tion seems to have been eradicated, working conditions and morale
in the force have improved, the standard of new recruits has risen. The Junior Police Officers Association, set up following the near mutiny in November 1977, has evolved into an apparently responsible body concerned with pursuing the legitimate interests of its
members, rather than becoming the vehicle for radical policies which some of the leaders of the 1977 troubles originally tried to
make it.
15.
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