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Public Order
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing
The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau coordinates overall policies in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing. LegCo passed the Cross-boundary Movement of Physical Currency and Bearer Negotiable Instruments Bill in June 2017 and the Narcotics Division was preparing to put the ordinance into effect in the second half of 2018.
Government Laboratory
The Government Laboratory's Forensic Science Division provides a comprehensive forensic service to the criminal justice system. 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:
• Abused drugs. The number of examined cases increased slightly over 2016. The most commonly encountered abused drugs were, in descending order, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, cannabis, ketamine and benzodiazepines.
• Analysis of blood and urine in drink-driving and drug-driving cases, urinalysis and hair drug testing to support abused drug monitoring programmes, and toxicological examination in suspicious deaths and criminal offences. Compared with 2016, the demand for drink-driving and drug-driving dropped while that for urinalysis and hair drug testing registered an increasing trend.
• Examination of handwriting and documents. The group also offers technical advice and testing on the quality of Hong Kong identity cards and passports. In 2017, among the items examined, Hong Kong identity cards continued to be the most commonly forged document, followed by travel documents and credit cards.
The Criminalistics and Quality Management Group undertakes laboratory tests on trace evidence, marks and impressions, and human DNA. It also provides a round-the-clock crime scene examination and consultation service to lend expert assistance to the identification, retrieval and preservation of scientific evidence. Officers are trained to ascertain causes of fires, reconstruct traffic accidents and interpret bloodstain patterns. In May, the group conducted urgent examinations for the police in solving a high-profile robbery and rape case in Kowloon Bay.
Civil Aid Service
The Civil Aid Service (CAS) is a government auxiliary emergency service set up under the Civil Aid Service Ordinance, with 103 civil servants and about 7,000 adult volunteers and cadets.
CAS members are trained to work in emergencies. In 2017, they served in five rescue operations during typhoons, floods or landslides, 96 mountain search and rescue assignments and 51 vegetation firefighting missions. Campaigns were conducted to raise awareness of hiking. safety, prevent mountaineering accidents and educate the public on what to do and how to save themselves in an accident.
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