XN000022-1987-05-27 — Page 18

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1981

POLICE COMPLAINTS COMMITTEE RELEASES FIRST REPORT

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THE POLICE COMPLAINTS COMMITTEE, AN INDEPENDENT MONITORING GROUP APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR IN EARLY 1986 TO TAKE OVER THE WORK PREVIOUSLY UNDERTAKEN BY THE FORMER UMELCO POLICE GROUP (UPG), HAS RELEASED ITS FIRST ANNUAL REPORT.

TABLING THE REPORT IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY (WEDNESDAY) IN HIS CAPACITY AS CHAIRMAN OF THE POLICE COMPLAINTS COMMITTEE, THE HON S.L. CHEN SAID DURING THE YEAR 1986, THE COMMITTEE EXAMINED IN DETAIL 4 536 COMPLAINT CASES, EMBRACING 6 198 SEPARATE POINTS OF COMPLAINT. PROCESSED BY THE COMPLAINTS AGAINST POLICE OFFICE (CAPO) OF THE ROYAL HONG KONG POLICE FORCE.

THIS FIGURE REPRESENTED AN INCREASE OF 11 PER CENT OVER

THE 4 080 CASES HANDLED BY THE FORMER UPG IN 1985.

THE REPORT STATES THAT THE LARGEST SINGLE SUBJECT OF COMPLAINT (27.9 PER CENT) WAS ABOUT OVERBEARING, IMPOLITE CONDUCT OR ABUSIVE LANGUAGE OF POLICE OFFICERS, FOLLOWED BY NEGLECT OF DUTY OR IMPROPER ACTION (21.9 PER CENT), ASSAULT (21.1 PER CENT), UNNECESSARY USE OF AUTHORITY (13.9 PER CENT) AND FABRICATION OF EVIDENCE (8.3 PER CENT).

IN ADDITION, THE REPORT STATES THAT AS A RESULT OF COMPLAINT INVESTIGATIONS CARRIED OUT BY OR ON BEHALF OF THE CAPO, EITHER CRIMINAL OR DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS WERE INSTITUTED OR OTHER FORMS OF INTERNAL ACTION WERE TAKEN AGAINST 1 081 POLICE OFFICERS DURING 1986.

HOWEVER, MR CHEN SÅ ID THE FIGURES FOR PUBLIC COMPLAINTS AND THE VARIOUS FORMS OF DISCIPLINARY OR INTERNAL ACTION TAKEN AGAINST POLICE OFFICERS SHOULD BE SEEN IN THE LIGHT OF THE DIFFICULT AND FRONT-LINE NATURE OF POLICE WORK AS WELL AS THE 3.1 MILLION POTENTIAL POLICE-PUBLIC CONFRONTATION SITUATIONS IN 1986, COMPRISING 1.8 MILLION PERSONS STOPPED AND SEARCHED AND 1.3 MILLION TRAFFIC SUMMONSES AND TICKETS ISSUED BY THE POLICE.

+HAVING SAID THIS, THE COMMITTEE WOULD LIKE TO PLEDGE ITS CONTINUED DETERMINATION TO SAFEGUARD THE INTERGRITY OF INVESTIGATIONS INTO COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE POLICE AND TO EXERT ITS UTMOST TO BE WORTHY OF THE TRUST THAT THE COMMITTEE HAS BEEN VESTED WITH BY THE GOVERNOR, HE ADDED.

MR CHEN SAID BECAUSE OF THE SOUND FOUNDATION LAID DOWN BY THE FORMER UPG, THE COMMITTEE HAD BEEN ABLE TO ASSUME ITS RESPONSIBILITIES WITHOUT DISRUPTION AND DEVELOP THE MONITORING SYSTEM FURTHER WITHOUT DIFFICULTY.

/THE COMMITTEE,