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information. The number of criminals arrested as a direct result of hotline information reached the 5 000 mark by September 1986.
Television programmes jointly produced by PPRB and Radio Television Hong Kong continued to prove popular, and 'Crimewatch', the programme which features re-enact- ments of actual crimes and asks for assistance from the public, has proved to be a great success, both in terms of viewing figures and audience response. 'Police 15', a 15-minute programme, which is aired on the Chinese channels every week and which offers simple crime prevention advice as well as asking for witnesses to crime to come forward, reached its 10th anniversary in October 1986, which was the subject of a special programme.
Officers in the PPRB newsroom, which is open 24 hours a day, handled a monthly average of 155 912 media queries. The newsroom also issued a monthly average of 1 598 traffic bulletins and 1 298 press releases on all aspects of police work. Press conferences, background briefings, and interviews were also arranged by the PPRB.
Training
Facilities at the Police Training School were further expanded and improved to meet increasing demand. Recruit inspectors continued to undergo a 36-week course and recruit constables began their career with a 22-week course. The courses covered criminal law, social studies, police and court procedures, drill and musketry, first aid and, for overseas inspectors, an eight-week course in colloquial Cantonese. Recruit traffic wardens under- went a six-week course covering traffic legislation and procedures.
The school provides training for junior police officers, to refresh and update their professional knowledge, for traffic personnel, and for newly-promoted sergeants and station sergeants, to prepare them for the responsibilities of higher rank. With the implementation of the revised syllabus on mock court training, the standard of junior officers' evidence in court will be raised.
The Regional Continuation Training Scheme continued to operate from centres in each of the four police regions. It provides supplementary training for some 2 000 constables each year, during their first two years of service. In addition, a scheme of continuation training for inspectors with less than one year's operational service has proved to be most effective, as has a series of courses on community relations specially designed for newly- appointed Neighbourhood Police Co-ordinators.
The Detective Training Wing of the Police Training School held 12-week Standard Criminal Investigation Courses throughout the year with an average of 25 inspectors, 20 sergeants and station sergeants and 100 constables attending each of the four courses. The courses are designed to cater for Uniform Branch officers and for officers already serving in crime formations who have not received formal criminal investigation training. A small number of officers from the Immigration Department and the Customs and Excise Department also attended the courses, full-time, at inspectorate and NCO rank level. All officers attending the Standard Criminal Investigation Courses were also trained in disaster victim identification techniques and, while on the course, formed the Disaster Victim Identification Unit (DVIU) which would act in the event of a major civil disaster.
Continuation Training for junior and inspectorate CID officers, first introduced in May 1984, continued during the year under review. The courses are of two weeks' duration, and are designed for officers already serving in crime formations in their fourth year in grade. The academic year provides for 16 courses for detective police constables, two courses for detective sergeants, one course for detective station sergeants and three courses for detective inspectors.