204
LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS
a number of special radio-equipped patrol cars controlled from district headquarters, which also runs the '999' system. The cars are directed to accidents or disturbances as an immediate force 'to aid or secure'. In the urban areas these mobile patrols provide the same police presence as the officer on foot. Officers of the uniformed branch also man report rooms at sub-divisional stations where members of the public normally bring, or telephone, their complaints. At present 40 report rooms are in operation and all the day-to-day policing of a sub-divisional area is conducted from them--the receiving and recording of reports and information from the public, the maintenance of detailed records of all police activi- ties, which may later be required in Court or elsewhere, the plan- ning and conducting of raids against opium or heroin divans and other centres of vice, and the charging and initial custody of offenders.
J
Apart from day-to-day duties the uniformed branch constable has a further, equally important, function. Because of Hong Kong's special circumstances it is essential that its conventional police force should be capable of being transformed at short notice into an aggressive internal security force, able to quell rioters and other groups intent on subverting the security of the Colony. Since the riots in 1956 particular attention has been given to riot training and the special role of the police force in an emergency. In normal circumstances the police officer must act with restraint and avoid the use of force; in times of emergency he may be required to act with force for the benefit of the community. It is one of the main objects of police training in Hong Kong that all ranks thoroughly understand both these roles.
The uniformed branch also mans police posts at the frontier, patrols outlying villages, deals with the special crowd-control pro- blems which occur at race meetings and football matches, controls and inspects licensed premises, supports the hawker control force, and gives advice and assistance generally to all citizens and visitors to Hong Kong. Thus the uniformed branch is the foundation of the force. At the same time it is the branch where officers gain initial practical experience before being sent to other sections. Officers who in the course of their careers transfer to other branches often return to the uniformed branch to fill more senior posts and this provides them with a general view of their profession