C
Question No. &
Reply by the Hon. M. Thomas, CMG, CC.,
Attorney General, to a question by
Dr. The Hon. HO Kam-fai, OBE., JP., in the Legislative Council on Wednesday, 13 November, 1985
:
Will the Government inform this Council the number of arson cases in the last 3 years and what measures are being taken to combat this crime?
Question
Reply :
Sir, in the last three years ending September 1985, 978 fires which were suspected by the Fire Services Department to have been started deliberately were referred to the Police for investigation. Of these, the Police consider that 588 were the
result of arson (which is the deliberate setting on fire of
property).
2.
Government considers that the most effective deterrence
to arson is the successful detection and prosecution of offenders. Fire Services personnel fighting fires are under instruction to investigate the cause of the fires. If necessary, they can call out the Fire Services Department investigation teams. The Fire Services Department operates training programmes for Fire Service officers on how to detect evidence of arson and
in 1983 the programme was strengthened when courses for selected officers conducted by an arson investigation specialist were introduced. So far, 150 Fire Officers have undergone this specialist training. If, as a result of their investigations,