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LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS
In its work of prevention and detection the Criminal Investiga- tion Department of the police force, to which is allocated some 10 per cent of the police establishment, makes use of specialist officers and modern scientific aids. Specialized divisions include a forensic laboratory, identification, anti-corruption and commercial crime bureaux as well as the narcotics and triad bureaux already referred to.
The largest section of the police force is the uniformed branch which has a strength of 8,217 officers and men, supported by 1,277 senior civilian, clerical and minor grade staff. The branch is deployed in the three territorial districts of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories with an Assistant Commissioner in charge of each. The two routine functions are the maintenance of patrols and the manning of report rooms in all police stations. The branch also provides the emergency units, one in each district, which are available at immediate notice to deal with any incident requiring more manpower than beat constables in the area can provide. The emergency units also carry out mobile patrols in radio-equipped cars and answer '999' calls. The uniformed branch mans police posts at the frontier, patrols outlying villages, deals with the special crowd-control problems 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 the public. Finally the uniformed branch is trained to act if necessary as an internal security force.
The Special Branch is responsible for preventing and detecting subversive activities and for supplying the intelligence necessary for the maintenance of internal security.
For the second year running there has been a decline in the number of people entering, or trying to enter, the Colony illegally. The main route is still from Macau by sea, and the number of would-be immigrants waiting in Macau for the opportunity of an illegal passage is always considerable. Although the number of persons arrested attempting to enter the Colony this year shows a decrease, the number of persons arrested, charged and convicted for aiding and abetting such illegal entry has shown a marked increase.
The Anti-Illegal Immigration Branch has remained on a super- numerary establishment and its future permanent form is still