number of new office blocks. The normal beat constables were unable to cover all these multi-storey premises adequately and special squads were deployed.
5. The North-East area of Kowloon vividly exemplifies this police. problem. At the time of the 1961 census the population of the area from Lo Fu Ngam to Lei Yue Mun was 332,000. By the end of the year it was estimated at 622,000 and by 1970 it is expected to be 1,150,000.
6. An estimated 311,300 tourists visited Hong Kong during the year and made increasing demands on police resources, for holiday-makers out to enjoy themselves and spend money are the special victims of pickpockets, touts and other petty crooks from the moment they arrive at the Airport or Sea Terminal.
7. In addition, Hong Kong's general prosperity attracts the criminal bent on fraud and other commercial crime. Police resources to combat this group of criminals, several of whom come from outside the Colony, had to be extended. Narcotics remain another serious threat. The need to reinforce this section of the police has been recognized. The growing numbers of juvenile offenders are cause for serious concern and the special section of the police established in 1963 to deal with them, the Juvenile Liaison Section, was enlarged during the year. These and other trends in crime which make increased or new demands on the police are described in more detail in the main body of the Report.
8. All these trends may be ascribed in large part to Hong Kong's continuing problem of people. They are also a concomitant of Hong Kong's prosperity. In this expanding society the police play a major role in maintaining the Colony's security, ensuring that all people who live here can do so in conditions of law and order, conditions essential to the continued prosperity of the economy and its ability to support a rising population.
IMPORTANT PROBLEMS AFFECTING THE POLICE
9. There were no major disturbances or disorders.
10. The most important problems sprang directly from the cir- cumstances described in the Introduction.
11. The special police organization set up in 1962 to deal with illegal immigration continued its sea-borne operations during the year. These operations represent a sustained deterrent to would-be illegal immigrants, particularly from Macau.
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