330 Public Order
During the year, the Junior Police Call (JPC) Scheme and the Secondary School Liaison Officers Programme continued to serve as bridges between the Police and youngsters. The year also marked a milestone for the JPC Scheme which was overhauled to make it a more effective youth initiative and community policing vehicle.
At the end 2005, there were 24 JPC clubhouses, 851 school clubs, 375 honorary presidents, 133 925 members and leaders, and 160 advanced leaders.
The Police Force has co-produced two weekly television programmes with Radio Television Hong Kong for the last 30 years. The 30-minute Police Magazine in Cantonese and the five-minute Police Report in English, keep the public abreast of crime trends and issue appeals for information that will help crime investigations. Police Magazine continues to enjoy high ratings and was selected as one of the Best Television Programmes in the Appreciation Index Survey 2005. In addition, the Force also co-produces a five-minute Police Bulletin with Cable TV.
The second series of the programme, Missing Persons Unit, jointly produced by the branch and Television Broadcasts Limited, was broadcast immediately after the drama, Without a Trace, from November 2004 to March 2005 to appeal for information on missing persons. The Force also assisted various film companies in the production of police-related dramas and documentaries during the year.
Information relating to police activities is disseminated to local and overseas media organisations round the clock. In 2005, the branch handled 338 370 media enquiries, issued 4 021 press releases, organised 154 press conferences and briefings and assisted media coverage at 98 serious crime scenes and other incidents.
It also worked closely with the Information Services Department and other government departments, as well as the Fight Crime Committee, in planning and implementing the Fight Crime Publicity Campaign 2005-06 with the theme 'Take Care of Your Own Belongings'.
To commend the initiative of citizens in helping the police fight crime, the Police Force selected a total of 80 members of the public to receive the Good Citizen Award in 2005 and held two presentation ceremonies, one in June and another in January 2006, with sponsorship from the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.
Police telephone hotlines and Crime Information Forms provide convenient channels for reporting crime. A total of 19 222 hotline phone calls (not including those made to the emergency hotline 999) as well as 1 143 returned Crime Information Forms were registered by year-end, resulting in 938 arrests.
To further publicise police-related information effectively, the branch continued to update the contents and improve the presentation of Force publications, including the biweekly newspaper OffBeat, the JPC monthly newsletter and the Police in Figures leaflet. The Police Review 2004 won an Honourable Mention in the 2005 Best Annual Report Awards organised by the Hong Kong Management Association.