5. A more valid method of judging the Hong Kong Police Officer as a 'servant and guardian' of the public is an examination of the year's work in Report Rooms. These rooms are the main centres of Police Stations. They are open day and night to receive information from all sources and to give advice and assistance to the public.
6. During the past years the number of requests for police assistance and advice have been steadily increasing. From the points of view of both the public and the Police this increase is encouraging, indicating that Report Rooms are now no longer looked upon merely as places where the Police charge offenders and take statements but rather as sources of helpful advice and ready aid.
7. A random selection of entries from Report Room records illustrates this. Abandoned infants and wandering children feature frequently. They are usually collected by beat or patrol officers and eventually handed over to the care of the Social Welfare Department if the parents are not quickly found. Police assistance is often resorted to by persons involved in serious quarrels: a number of records show that these have been solved at Report Room desks where the Duty Officers have acted as arbitrators and have been accepted as such. Again, Report Rooms have been visited by parents seeking advice about a badly-behaved child and by the wife of a drug addict who wanted treatment for him. In both cases assistance was readily given.
8. In the rural areas of the New Territories and on the remoter islands similar personal assistance is given by the Police. Fishermen, farmers and their families are helped in their day to day lives as much as resources and time permit.
9. The number of persons seeking help of this kind from the Police is a measure of the success of policing in this context of 'servant and guardian'. For in a community where members of the public readily turn to the police officer for help in times of personal need or worry, there is less likelihood of the criminal finding an easy abode.
10. It is this attitude of the public that is equally important in achieving the most satisfactory policing of the community. For the police must have as much confidence in the public as the public has in them. As our society becomes more complex and sophisticated the policeman's task becomes more difficult, and provided he acts reason- ably and conscientiously he is entitled to look for the full support of the public and the Courts. Police officers are only human and they can lose confidence in themselves and interest in their duty if criticism is unfair
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