PUBLIC ORDER
community in the fight against crime. On crime control, it will focus on improving and enhancing its capability in the access to and use of crime information; the pursuit of criminals and investigation of crime cases; and the procedures for dealing with witnesses and suspects.
These operational priorities will be supported by a series of management initiatives to promote the Force values through: wider use of modern technology; a focus on human resource management; more widespread communication; and better management of resources.
During the year, the Force conducted its first Customer Satisfaction Survey and the second Public Opinion Survey. The customers generally rated the service they received as quite good or very good (72 per cent), with only a few rating the service as quite poor or very poor (5 per cent). In general, the respondents were more than satisfied with the quality of police services with 73 per cent rating overall performance as worthy of praise, down from the 1995 opinion survey result by 5 per cent.
The overall law and order situation continued to improve. The crime rate of 1 036 cases per 100 000 population in the year was the lowest in the past 24 years.
Handover Ceremony
WB/IMF Annual Meetings
A Planning and Implementation Team was set up at Police Headquarters in January to deal with all security matters relating to the Handover Ceremony and WB/IMF Annual Meetings. It was led by an Assistant Commissioner of Police, assisted by seven experienced officers ranging from the rank of Chief Superintendent to Chief Inspector. It worked closely with the main organising bodies of the two events and acted as a link between the Force and other agencies in the development and subsequent implementation of security plans.
To prepare for this, Police officers were sent abroad between 1994 and 1997 to observe major international conferences and meetings. These included the WB/IMF Annual Meetings in Madrid and Washington, DC, the Olympic Games in Atlanta, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in New Zealand and the World Trade Organisation Meeting in Singapore. Officers also attended overseas training courses to enhance their skills in conducting large-scale security operations and crowd control events.
For the Handover Ceremony, 2 000 officers were deployed at the Extension to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) and the East Tamar site where the official ceremonies were held. The Police Tactical Unit, VIP Protection Unit, Force Search Cadre, Force Escort Group, Special Duties Unit, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit, Police Dog Unit and other non-front-line units were mobilised. Special equipment such as metal detector archways, X-ray machines and electronic search equipment were acquired to assist in the operations.
Screening stations were set up at strategic locations at the Extension to the HKCEC for security checks. Officers from the Police Tactical Unit were deployed to maintain venue security and the VIP Protection Unit was temporarily expanded to cater for the mammoth task of protecting 65 dignitaries. It was supported by the Force Escort Group to ensure smooth passage for the dignitaries under protection. The Special
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