CONFIDENTIAL
Ref: (106) in CP CON 214/159 III
Introduction
Brief on Force Morale for Mr J W Kelland LVO QPM FBIM Overseas Police Adviser Monday, 5 November 1990
Appendix
A
Staff Relations Branch Police Headquarters
30 October 1990
First, it should be said that Police officers in Hong Kong have much the same types of complaints as those in the United Kingdom. They are not paid enough for the job they do; they are not adequately housed or housing is too expensive; the status of the Police in society has declined and members of the public are less cooperative or even downright obstructive; officers are provided with the wrong uniforms and the wrong equipment; people at Police Headquarters work in an "ivory tower" and do not really appreciate the problems of the man-on-the-beat or of Divisions or Districts or Regional Headquarters; complaints against Police are afforded too high a degree of priority and criminals can readily abuse the system. And so on and so forth.
2.
To this can be added the special problems of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force. We are a para-military Police Force, with all that this implies, and we are about to resume the policing of the Sino-Hong Kong Border from the British Army - a role that the Force previously undertook until the Cultural Revolution in China spilled over into Hong Kong in 1967 and led to some 6 months of rioting and bombing. We currently manage three Vietnamese Boat People Detention Centres and also provide the security for another with the possibility of managing one more. We do not have full overtime pay as exists in the United Kingdom but instead are paid a "Disciplined Services Overtime Allowance" up to the rank of Chief Inspector. Firearms are being bought at cheap prices across the border in China and are then used in Hong Kong in furtherance of bank robberies and other forms of serious crime. Criminals can not only complain to the Force's Complaints Against Police Office, but can (and do) also make allegations to the Independent Commission Against Corruption immediately they are arrested firstly as a defence tactic and secondly to cause hindrance to the arresting officers. Many documents that are produced in English also have to be translated into Chinese, and vice-versa and the same goes for taking witness statements and giving evidence in court. Added to this, the Force is moving from being a colonial, expatriate-led Force to being a local Chinese-led Force with the inevitable localization of its senior officer cadre.
CONFIDENTIAL