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that the recruits would carry out police functions as well as administrative ones. His intention had been that they should mirror at district level the role of Mr Furdon at Headquarters.
10. Our doubts were recorded in FCO telno 598 to Hong Kong. We also passed on Mr Crane's view that it might be possible to recruit one or more suitable police officers from the United Kingdom, despite the poor results of the recent recruitment exercise. You might put this point to the Governor and suggest that a further effort to find policemen of the right quality should be made before turning to military candidates. If he agrees (he will no doubt want to consult Mr Slevin first) we could ask the Home Office to make arrangements for a new trawl.
11. Inspection of Special Branch
In his letter of 13 July the Governor accepted the need to inspect the Special Branch. He suggested that this might best be done by attaching a Special Branch Officer from the UK to Ir Crane's team, when the follow-up inspection of the Force as a whole takes place next year. Our preference has been for the Special Branch Inspection to be carried out by a represen- tative of the Security Service as well as a UK Special Branch Officer. In this way the targeting of the Branch can be examined as well as its efficiency.
12. In the meantime Ir Slevin has told the Security Service and Mir Macoun that he would welcome an inspection of the Special Branch by a senior Security Service Officer accompanied by a senior Metropolitan Police Special Branch Officer (Mr Macoun's minute of 3 August). Both the Security Service and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police are prepared to meet this request. think that the Governor will be content to proceed in this way provided that the Special Branch inspection takes place in the margins of a more general inspection: he is concerned that there should be no publicity.
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