XN000022-1996-07-05 — Page 15

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Now you have a proposal saying that the IPCC will be made independent, that it will become a statutory body, and also you are going to revamp the approaches and procedures. But then it seems you are not touching upon the crux of the matter and that is the system of complaints against the police, that it is not independent. I think the crux is that you have to make it independent in order to tackle the problem. In the past, before the setting up of the ICAC, the police also resisted the inception of the ICAC because the police said they are not well versed with our work and so they have to investigate the complaints themselves and also it would deal a blow to police moral, etc. However, in the end when we have the ICAC we have proved that the police are a much cleaner force. So I am not only worried about corruption inside the police but other points also.

Presenter (in Chinese): The point is very clear, you want an independent complaints mechanism.

Question (in Chinese): I would like to ask the Governor why up to now he has not done anything in this regard? At least the CAPO or the head of the CAPO should at least be a person not from the police force. This is a recommendation of the United Nations. What does the Governor think about this?

Governor: First of all can I say that I think one should look at this problem in context. We have almost certainly the finest police force in Asia and I do not want to do or say anything which damages the morale of that police force at a sensitive time. But you are entirely right to say that where there are rotten apples, and there are in any organisation, there must be a credible organisation for dealing with them. I think we have increased the credibility of the Independent Police Complaints Council by making it statutory, by introducing new practices like taping and videoing of interviews and so on. I think that that should help to strengthen the credibility of the organisation which has to deal with complaints against the police and I am sure that the Commissioner would totally agree that that system has to have credibility.

I think there are arguments against having an independent head of CAPO. I do not think it would be very easy to find somebody really good who wanted to be head of an organisation of disciplined services who was put there precisely because many people outside thought the disciplined services could not be trusted to organise their own activities. I am not sure that would be a very good basis on which somebody could do the job. But I repeat that I accept that it is vitally important for us to ensure that the investigation of any complaints that there might be against the police has the greatest legitimacy and credibility possible, and I am sure the Commissioner and his senior officers would agree with that too.