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Public Order
Government Laboratory
The Government Laboratory's Forensic Science Division provides a comprehensive forensic service to the criminal justice system in Hong Kong. It has two operational groups, the Drugs, Toxicology and Documents Group and the Criminalistics and Quality Management Group.
The Drugs, Toxicology and Documents Group examines cases in three areas:
1) Abused drugs. The number of examined cases remained high in 2012, with ketamine, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, benzodiazepines and cannabis, in descending order of encounters, contributing 87 per cent of the cases examined.
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Urinalysis and analysis of blood and urine for drink-driving and drug-driving cases, and toxicological examination. The demand for urinalysis and drink-driving testing remained steady when compared to 2011, while drug-driving testing was newly introduced in 2012. The toxicological examination service seeks to ascertain the presence or otherwise of drugs and poisons where they are implicated in suspicious deaths and criminal offences. Besides these routine services, it also provided drug testing services to support the Healthy School Programme.
The routine examination of handwriting and documents. The group also offers technical advice and testing to the Immigration Department in respect of the quality of HKSAR e-passports and identity cards. In 2012, the Hong Kong Identity Card continued to be the most commonly forged document, followed by foreign travel visas and Mainland travel documents.
The Criminalistics and Quality Management Group provides a wide range of support services to the law enforcement agencies, including chemical analysis of trace evidence, physical examination of toolmarks and shoeprints, investigation of suspicious fires and traffic accident reconstruction. The group also handles forensic biological samples and performs DNA analysis of exhibits seized from crime scenes. DNA profiles of convicted offenders, suspects and volunteers are compared with outstanding DNA profiles of crime scene exhibits in unsolved cases and comparisons are performed among outstanding DNA profiles of exhibits from different unsolved cases for possible connections. In 2012, urgent DNA analysis performed on a number of serious cases provided crucial investigative leads for law enforcement agencies to apprehend the culprits. In addition, the group carried out genetic tests for the immigration Department in relation to right of abode applications, handling roughly the same number as in 2011.
Immigration Department
Immigration Control
The Immigration Department plays an important role in maintaining law and order by controlling entry into Hong Kong. Through checks at control points and the vetting of entry applications, immigration officers detect undesirable people, including international criminals and dubious visitors. In 2012, 29,792 undesirable people were refused permission to enter Hong Kong.
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