PUBLIC ORDER
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In June, clearance of illegal stalls and wooden huts was carried out in a rear lane of Lung Kwong Road, Kowloon City. The operation met with strong resistance from the occupants who attacked demolition workers and police with metal rods, sticks and boiling water. Seven people, including four police officers, were slightly injured. Nine occupants of the illegal structures were arrested and eight were charged with criminal offences.
Narcotics
A fourth successive bumper crop of the opium poppy in the 'Golden Triangle' resulted in increased drug trafficking in Southeast Asia and an influx of opiates into Hong Kong. But substantial and record seizures by police and customs officers meant there was a dearth in supply and a corresponding substantial rise in price at street level.
Some 1 340 kilograms of opiates, including heroin base, No. 3 heroin and opium, were seized, compared with 730 kilograms the previous year.
Crime Prevention
The Crime Prevention Bureau opened its new equipment display rooms, conducted a series of seminars for senior security officers from major hotels and provided enhanced training for police officers engaged in crime prevention. A visual aids section was established to produce short video training films and specific surveys of high-risk premises were conducted to increase security measures, both at the design stage and during occupation.
Criminal Information
The Police Operational Nominal Index Computer System (PONICS) - operational for more than a year - proved to be extremely useful in allowing immediate access to and feed back of information essential to effective day-to-day policing.
The main fingerprint collection contains 524 436 sets and, during the year, 72 027 arrest fingerprints were processed and identified 37 963 people as having previous convictions. The section also carried out vetting searches on 35 372 sets of fingerprints and dealt with 23 002 applications for a Certificate of No Criminal Conviction.
Illegal Immigration
Illegal immigration remained one of the serious problems facing security forces and necessitated the regular daily deployment of some 700 police officers. The introduction of the new-style identity card further proved to be a significant deterrent against illegal immigration. It is much more difficult to forge and contains information which police can quickly check, in the field, by using a system of computer-assisted verification. This, together with the improved border fence and protection system and the modernisation of the Marine Police fleet and communications, enabled the force to take effective measures against illegal immigration.
A total of 12 743 illegal immigrants from China were apprehended, 9 653 of them being arrested upon entry. Some 3 090 evaders, who had successfully slipped through the security net, surfaced. During the year, 13 090 were repatriated to China, representing a 44 per cent increase compared with the 9 067 repatriated the previous year. Some 529 illegal immigrants surrendered to the police and 149 were arrested in possession of forged identity cards, a decrease of 76 per cent compared with 1983.
The Illegal Immigration Intelligence Bureau continued to take action against organised syndicates bringing in illegal immigrants and those involved in providing forged identity documents. Persons prosecuted in this connection totalled 304.
Urban Council Public Libraries
City Hall, Hong Kong.