PUBLIC ORDER

respectively, highlighting yet again the need for positive traffic control together with increased effort in the field of road safety education.

Road safety campaigns mounted throughout the year put emphasis on improving the road sense of adult pedestrians, and young inexperienced cyclists and drivers. The Road Safety Exhibition Centre at Police Traffic Headquarters in United Centre, Queensway, the Road Safety Town at Sau Mau Ping, the newly-opened Sha Tin Road Safety Park, and the Road Safety Mobile Centre were all regularly visited by schools and similar organ- isations. Another Road Safety Town on Hong Kong Island is expected to be ready by early 1990.

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A sponsored road safety campaign, known as the 'Constable Care' Road Safety Programme, aimed at children aged 8-12, was launched in the 1988-9 school year and generated considerable interest.

During 1989, there were 15 932 traffic accidents causing personal injury, a decrease of 2.4 per cent against the previous year. Provisional figures show that there were 337 fatalities and 20 886 casualties.

Community Relations

For the second consecutive year, the Fight Crime Campaign focused on two areas which were of continuing concern the triad menace and home security – and, additionally, reintroduced the subject of juvenile crime.

Aiming to break down public resistance in reporting all aspects of triad activity, the anti-triad campaign was an extension of last year's effort. Apart from encouraging young people to report triad activities, parents and guardians were reminded of their respon- sibilities for ensuring that young persons under their control were positively supervised. Television and radio were extensively used throughout the campaign and a new Television Announcement of Public Interest (TV API) was produced.

The Neighbourhood Watch Scheme, which encourages families to take an active interest in each other's security by forming groups within buildings, entered its seventh phase. A total of 107 022 households in 572 buildings took part in this phase setting up 10 379 watch units.

Hooliganism and shoptheft were the subjects particularly emphasised in the anti- juvenile crime campaign. So far as hooliganism is concerned the campaign set out to dissuade juveniles from becoming involved in crime while at the same time reminding parents of the importance of proper parental care and control. Although the level of shop- theft dropped considerably in 1988 compared with 1987, this campaign was continued into 1989. While basically directed at juveniles, it also carried a message for adults. Both themes were promoted through police liaison with schools, police TV programmes, Junior Police Call (JPC) activities, TV specials and a new handout booklet.

Public support in the fight against crime continued to be recognised under the Good Citizen Award and Good Citizen of the Year Award Schemes in which cash awards and certificates are given to people who have courageously assisted the police to thwart crime or arrest criminals. During the year 114 people received the Good Citizen Award, making a total of $218,000 in awards, and another two people were awarded a total of $20,000 as Good Citizens of the Year.

The public continued to make full use of the police hotline to pass on crime information and 475 arrests were made as a direct result of their telephone calls.

The claim of the Junior Police Call to be the largest police-youth organisation in the world was further substantiated when the 500 000th member to join since its inception

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