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LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS
During the cholera epidemic in August, September and part of October, the Department maintained close touch with the medical authorities and other organizations engaged in measures against the epidemic, and paid special attention to coastal sea traffic.
Comparative figures for the past five years of movement in and out of the Colony, and the issue of visas, passports, certificates of identity and re-entry permits, may be seen in Appendix IX.
The Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force. 1961 was a memorable year for the Auxiliaries because, after a period of ten years, service once again became entirely voluntary. The Auxiliary Force, with a strength of 1,976 men, is commanded by the Commissioner of Police assisted by the Commandant who is an Auxiliary Assistant Commissioner. The purpose of the unit is to assist the regular Police to maintain or restore law and order in times of emergency or at other times when they are fully deployed. When mobilized the Auxiliaries are completely integrated with the regular Force.
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The Auxiliaries come from all walks of life. As in previous years they received part-time training and attended annual camps at the Police Training School, Aberdeen. Twice a year they are mobilized with the Police Force, and they also take part from time to time in joint Police/Military Security Exercises.
PRISONS
The aim of the Prison authorities in the Colony is to put all prisoners serving sentences of under two years into open prisons with adequate open-air work for all. The local prison where con- victed men pass months in idleness is all too common in many countries and even where open prisons exist it is often very difficult for men serving short sentences to be accommodated in them. In Hong Kong all short-term prisoners are considered suitable for open treatment, unless the contrary is proved, and it is the policy gradually to extend open treatment to wider catego- ries of people under detention.
There are seven corrective institutions under the control of the Commissioner of Prisons, including three security prisons, two for men at Stanley and Victoria and one for women at Lai Chi Kok, and two open prisons, one at Chi Ma Wan on Lantau Island and one for drug addicts at Tai Lam in the New Territories.