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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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particular, are causing much public nuisance and creating serious environmental problems. The Urban Council has no way to ensure the hygiene of foods sold by unlicensed food premises and unlicensed cooked food hawkers which operate at night. The Urban Council must have the determination to rectify the situation and tackle this problem. If we fail to discharge even these basic duties, then no matter how well we perform in other areas, we will still be accused by the public of 'not attending to our proper duties'.
In order to improve our services, basically we must change the working attitude of our departmental staff. I remember in one of the meetings of the Markets and Street Traders Select Committee in which the problem of unlicensed hawkers was being discussed, a senior departmental officer said to us that the hawker problem could only be solved if the hawkers arrested would be given prison terms. I was shocked by what he said and found it ridiculous. No wonder little improvements have been made in our work. The departmental staff have all along believed that this problem could never be solved. This also illustrates the Chinese saying which says, 'When the senior ones behave unworthily, those below will do the same.' No wonder there have been frequent complaints from the public against the Hawker Control Officers, saying that they only stand on one side doing nothing while they are on duty.
Every time we complained about some hawker blackspots, the Department would provide us with lots of statistics, such as the numbers of arrests or prosecutions. However, it is not the statistics that matters. What we are concerned about is whether the locations are hawker blackspots or not. The Department only emphasizes on the number of arrests instead of conducting patrols and dispersing the hawkers. This is unacceptable. At present, a majority of the Hawker Control Team members are deployed to carry out static patrol duties at various areas. However, no matter how much manpower and resources the Urban Council spends on this, it is still impossible to have Hawker Control Officers conducting static patrols at each and every location where illegal hawkers gather to prevent illegal hawking. We should fully consider implementing a flexible deployment system. Officers should be deployed to conduct mobile patrols in various small districts. The patrol system should be similar to that of the police. When arrest actions are necessary or if supports are needed, the officers concerned may seek assistance from their colleagues with the aid of telecommunication equipment.
The crux of the problem lies in the shift pattern and duty hours of the Hawker Control Force and Health Inspector grade. The problem of illegal hawking and illegal food business, particularly in the early-morning hours and the operation of the unlicensed food premises at night are becoming more serious. However, the existing shift pattern and duty hours of our departmental staff cannot cope with the need at all. The result is that hawkers will cease operation whenever we go on duty and start their business as soon as we go off duty. At present, the Hawker Control Teams work on a 2-shift pattern and Health Inspectors normally only work during day-time and will only conduct evening operation when complaints are received. Such arrangements are not appropriate. We think introduction of the 3-shift work
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