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PUBLIC ORDER
A number of administrative and legislative measures were taken to reduce triad influence in areas where government departments can exercise a certain amount of control, notably in fish marketing and in abattoirs.
The Fight Crime Committee was still very much concerned about juvenile crime and considered ways of reducing young people's involvement in crime. Towards this end, it also introduced measures aimed at discouraging young people from shoptheft. The Young Offender Assessment Panel continued to offer advice to courts on the training and sentencing of convicted juveniles and young people, and also arranged a series of rehabilitative courses at the Hong Kong Outward Bound School for inmates of Correc- tional Services Department and Social Welfare Department institutions.
Progress with the setting up of the Integrated Law and Order Statistical System. continued smoothly throughout 1988. By integrating information on offences and offenders kept by the Police Force, the Correctional Services and Social Welfare Departments and the Judiciary, the system will make it possible to gather comprehensive data on the criminal justice system and on recidivism. A mini-computer system is being developed and the system will be implemented in early 1989.
With advice from the Security Association, preliminary draft legislation is being drawn up to replace the Watchmen Ordinance and to provide a framework for the regulation of the industry as a whole. Amendments to the Summary Offences Ordinance and the Police Force Ordinance were enacted to provide better control over faulty burglar alarms, thereby saving police manpower and reducing noise nuisance.
The 19 District Fight Crime Committees continued to play a very important role in the fight against crime in the districts. They helped foster community awareness of the need to prevent crime and community participation to combat crime. A large number of fight crime activities were organised by these committees which helped publicise the anti-triad, anti-shoptheft and home security themes. The joint Fight Crime Committee/District Fight Crime Committees Conference held in October gave the 19 district committees and the central committee an opportunity to exchange views on anti-crime measures and to suggest ways of further developing the campaign against crime.
Police Force
To meet the increasing and diverse responsibilities placed upon it, the Royal Hong Kong Police Force continued to expand and develop.
With the ten-year modernisation programme almost complete, the Marine Police fleet of 64 major launches and 83 smaller craft has become one of the largest in the world. These resources were put fully to the test during the year to cope with a major influx of Viet- namese boat people entering the territory.
On land, preparation continued for the split of the Kowloon Region into two regions by 1991 with the creation of new posts and the modification and extension of the existing Kowloon Regional Command and Control Centre, in anticipation of the Enhanced Computer Assisted Command and Control System.
The present anti-illegal immigration duties undertaken by the army at the border will be taken over by the Police Tactical Unit in phases from late 1990. For this additional commitment, two companies of men were recruited during the year and extra instruct- ors were provided at the Police Training School. More staff will be required in the next two years.
In May the Commissioner of Police visited China to discuss counterfeiting, narcotics, illegal immigration and other operational matters. The visit was the seventh of a continuing