Reply:
(d)
(e)
Mr President,
· 96 -
whether the Police Force management has conducted an analysis of the situation regarding policemen borrowing money; if so, whether there is an upward trend for such borrowing and whether an examination of the causes for policemen running into debts has been made, and how the problem of policemen borrowing money can be rectified; and
what monitoring measures does the Police Force management have to prevent policemen who run into debts from being exploited by criminal gangs, and thus prevent the law-enforcement capability of the Police Force from being jeopardised?
The answer to the five parts in this question is as follows:
(a)
The Police Credit Union currently has assets of over $490 million. These assets are in fact savings of Police Force members. The amount of loans borrowed from the Union in the past three years are:-
$295.8 million
1993
1994
$344.7 million
1995
$433.5 million
(b)
(c)
The increase in loan over the years was mainly due to a steady increase in membership. The Police do not keep statistics on the breakdown of loans by police regions or ranks of the officers.
There is no requirement for police officers to disclose details of their private loans as this would constitute an arbitrary interference with their privacy. We therefore do not have the amount of loans borrowed by police officers from licensed banks or financial institutions.
In the past three years, a total of five police officers were found and disciplined for obtaining loans from illegal money-lenders including loan sharks. The breakdowns are as follows:
Page 110Page 111