XN000022-1980-10-01 — Page 19

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1980

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LAW AND ORDER SERVICES EXPAND

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THE PRISONS DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN PROVIDED WITH FUNDS FOR A NEW MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON AT SHEK PIK ON LANTAU TO COPE WITH THE INCREASING PRISON POPULATION, THE GOVERNOR, SIR MURRAY MACLEHOSE SAID.

SPEAKING AT THE OPENING SESSION OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY (WEDNESDAY) SIR MURRAY NOTED THAT THE NUMBER OF REGULAR PRISONERS, PARTICULARLY THOSE LONG-TERM AND REQUIRING HIGH SECURITY, HAD INCREASED FROM JUST OVER 6 000 A YEAR AGO TO 6 900.

+ALTHOUGH THE PRISONS DEPARTMENT HAS NOT BEEN REQUIRED TO DIVERT SO MUCH OF ITS RESOURCES TO VIETNAMESE BOAT REFUGEES THIS YEAR, THE NUMBER OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS BEING HELD IN THE DEPARTMENT'S CUSTODY HAS INCREASED SHARPLY, HE ADDED.

THEY ARE THE ONES WHO WERE ORIGINALLY FROM VIETNAM BUT SUBSEQUENTLY SETTLED IN CHINA.

TALKING ABOUT THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT, SIR MURRAY SAID A SECOND INSTITUTION FOR WOMEN AT TAI TAM GAP HAD BEEN OPENED,

THE DETENTION CENTRE PROGRAMME FOR YOUNG OFFENDERS OF THE 14-20 AGE GROUP HAD CONTINUED TO PROVE MOST EFFECTIVE AND A SECOND DETENTION CENTRE HAD OPENED ON HEI LING CHAU.

HE NOTED THAT 95 PER CENT OF THOSE WHO PASSED THROUGH THE PROGRAMME HAD NOT BEEN RECONVICTED OF ANY OFFENCE IN THE YEAR FOLLOWING RELEASE, AND NEARLY 80 PER CENT HAD NOT BEEN RECONVICTED DURING THE THREE YEARS FOLLOWING RELEASE.

THE FIRST RESULTS OF THE PROGRAMME WHICH WAS EXTENDED IN AUGUST 1977 IN A MODIFIED FORM TO YOUNG ADULTS BETWEEN 21 AND 24 HAVE BEEN EQUALLY ENCOURAGING, HE SAID.

ON THE WORK OF THE CUSTOMS AND EXCISE SERVICE, SIR MURRAY SAID IN THE LAST THREE YEARS IT HAD GROWN BY 20 PER CENT.

HE EXPLAINED THAT THIS REFLECTED THE GROWTH OF TRAVEL THE EXPANSION OF OVERSEAS TRADE, THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE KWAI CHUNG CONTAINER PORT AND, MORE RECENTLY, THE DEMANDS OF THE

INCREASE IN TRAFFIC OF ALL KINDS BETWEEN HONG KONG AND CHINA+.

SIR MURRAY POINTED OUT THE SERVICE WAS BEING EXPANDED AND MODERNISED TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE PROTECTION OF OUR INTERNATIONAL TRADING REPUTATION,

SIR MURRAY PAID TRIBUTE TO THE MEMBERS AND CIVILIAN STAFF OF THE SERVICE OUTSIDE THE IR ANTI-NARCOTICS WORK.

+THEY COLLECT OVER FIVE PER CENT OF THE TOTAL REVENUE AND THE IR SUCCESS IN THE SUPPRESSION OF COPYRIGHT OFFENCES IN RECENT YEARS HAS BEEN HELD UP AS A MODEL FOR OTHER COUNTRIES, AND HAS RELIEVED HONG KONG OF SOME VOCIFEROUS INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM, + HE SAID.

/ON THE

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