XN000022-1993-05-26 — Page 4

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 1993

POLICE COMPLAINTS COMMITTEE REPORT 1992

IN

THE POLICE COMPLAINTS COMMITTEE (PCC) WOULD, IN ADDITION TO THE USUAL SCRUTINY OF INVESTIGATION REPORTS, BE HEAVILY INVOLVED PURSUING REFORMS TO THE EXISTING MACHINERY IN THE YEARS TO COME.

AND

GIVEN MORE TIME, THE PCC WOULD BE SEEN TO BE MORE DYNAMIC PRO-ACTIVE WITH GROWING AWARENESS AND HOPEFULLY APPRECIATION OF ITS SERVICE BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

THIS WAS STATED BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE PCC, MISS ROSANNA WONG, AT A PRESS CONFERENCE TO ANNOUNCE THE PCC REPORT 1992 THIS (WEDNESDAY) AFTERNOON.

THE PCC IS AN INDEPENDENT BODY APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR TO MONITOR AND REVIEW THE HANDLING OF COMPLAINTS MADE BY THE PUBLIC AGAINST THE POLICE.

COMMENTING ON THE WORK OF PCC, MISS WONG SAID THE COMMITTEE WAS VERY CONCERNED ABOUT ITS TRANSPARENCY. A FULLER ACCOUNT OF HOW PCC CONDUCTED ITS BUSINESS WAS THEREFORE GIVEN IN THE REPORT, ILLUSTRATED BY CASE SUMMARIES WHENEVER APPROPRIATE.

SHE HOPED THAT THE NEW FORMAT OF THE REPORT WOULD INCREASE THE TRANSPARENCY OF THE PCC'S ROLE.

MISS WONG EMPHASISED THAT THE ROLE OF THE COMMITTEE IS TO MONITOR AND REVIEW. INVESTIGATIONS ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE COMPLAINTS AGAINST POLICE OFFICE (CAPO).

ALL INVESTIGATION REPORTS, TOGETHER WITH ALL EVIDENCE COLLECTED (INCLUDING STATEMENTS, MEDICAL REPORTS, EXHIBITS AND LEGAL ADVICE) RIGOROUSLY SCRUTINISED BY THE PCC, WHICH IS ASSISTED BY A FULL- TIME SECRETARIAT.

ARE

IN 1992, 3,250 INVESTIGATION REPORTS WERE RECEIVED INVOLVING 4,146 ALLEGATIONS. THESE COMPARE WITH 3,154 AND 4,582 RESPECTIVELY IN 1991.

AND

OF ALL THESE, ASSAULT, AN OVER-BEARING MANNER/IMPOLITENESS NEGLECT OF DUTY CONSTITUTED THE BULK OF COMPLAINTS, REPRESENTING NEARLY 82% OF THE TOTAL COMPLAINTS.

MANY COMPLAINTS OF THE LATTER TWO CATEGORIES WERE MINOR SOME OF WHICH WERE DEALT WITH BY INFORMAL RESOLUTION.

ONES,

"ASSAULT" STILL CONSTITUTED THE HIGHEST PROPORTION OF ALL COMPLAINTS, THAT IS, 1,827 OR 44.1%. IT WAS HOWEVER INTERESTING ΤΟ NOTE THAT 88.2% OF ASSAULT COMPLAINTS WERE SUBSEQUENTLY WITHDRAWN OR CLASSIFIED AS NOT PURSUABLE. THE PCC WOULD PROBE INTO THIS SITUATION IN THE CONTEXT OF A SURVEY.

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