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Tai Kok Tsui and Wah Fu. Twenty-five prefabricated reporting centres were estab- lished throughout the territory in connection with the Fight Violent Crime Campaign.
Buildings under construction at the end of the year were North Point, Kwai Chung, Cheung Sha Wan and frontier divisional headquarters, Phase I of Kowloon district headquarters, additional accommodation at Kowloon City police station and at the Police Training School, accommodation for the auxiliary police at Stirling Road and at the Wan Chai Reclamation, and the New Police Tactical Unit at Lung Cheung Road.
The principal recommendations of the committee appointed by the Commis- sioner to undertake a survey on the civilianisation of police posts were generally accepted by the Colonial Secretariat. The transfer of more than 800 police posts to civilian staff will be the target, phased over five years. During 1973 satisfactory pro- gress was made in this scheme and by December 1973 nearly 200 posts had been civilianised.
The Planning and Research Division of Police Headquarters completed 10 projects during the year. A further 27 projects covering various subjects of police interest are also being critically examined by the division.
The Police Cadet School was opened in temporary accommodation at Fanling in September. This will accommodate up to 300 cadets in its present surroundings while the site for a much larger permanent school is being prepared at Shuen Wan, near Tai Po.
A new summer uniform was introduced for all ranks including the Marine Police, where it has replaced the traditional ‘sailor' rig.
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The last of the seven new Vosper-Thornycroft 78 sector patrol launches joined the police marine fleet early in the year. These vessels have proved to be well-suited to their role. At the end of the year the police marine fleet consisted of 47 vessels.
Recruitment
There was a considerable improvement in the recruiting of inspectors during 1973. A total of 101, including 87 from overseas, joined the force and 14 were pro- moted from the rank and file. However, with a vacancy figure in excess of 260 on December 31, 1973 this was still far from satisfactory.
To obtain the desired balance between local and overseas officers in the inspec- torate cadre and greatest need is to recruit larger numbers of officers from overseas. In an effort to stimulate overseas recruiting two advertising campaigns were launched in Canada and recruiting teams, the first headed personally by the Commissioner of Police, visited Canada to interview applicants. As a result 19 men and three women inspectors were recruited into the force.
Expenditure on advertising in Britain was also increased and in August an advertising consultant visited Hong Kong to obtain first-hand knowledge of the force and its environment to enable him to design a press campaign aimed at stimulat- ing recruitment. Following this visit funds were approved for an ambitious and continuing campaign to start in Britain early in 1974.
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