TNAG-0737-FCO40-941-Hong-Kong-annual-review-for-1977-1978 — Page 21

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revolution in attitudes in both the Police, the

A

other public services and the public itself. The

joint success has been considerable and by mid-1977 not only had the dramatic rise in crime been halted

and turned back, but corruption has been vastly reduced.

With the strong copperation of the Commissioner of Police, the Independent Commission Against Corruption,

by means of a large number of prosecutions, had installed sufficient fear into the corrupt to stop corrupt money moving and through its preventive and educational activities largely changed the fatalistic attitude of the public to corruption in either the public or

private sectors. But inevitably such drastic

and public action provoked repercussions in both the

private

vate sector and in the public services.

Until

Cctober/November of last year these had all been successfully surmounted.

10. While the police action was basically a reaction

to heavy pressure from the ICAC, there was much more

to it than that. To halt and turn back crime, the strength of other ranks and officers had been expanded by over 40% in four years; the Force's methods and deployment and, to some extent its chain of command, had

all been changed. With hindsight one can see that inadequate attention was paid to the affect of all these rapid changes on the cohesion and well-being of the Force.

CONFIDENTIAL

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