TNAG-0813-FCO40-1018-Allegations-of-bribery-and-corruption-in-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 35

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c)

d)

e)

f)

The substitution of Lay Prosecutors in Magistrates Courts for Police Prosecutors, so as to interpose a member of the Attorney- General's office between the police and the presentation of their case in court.

The appointment of Lay Assessors who would be Cantonese-speaking, who would sit with expatriate Magistrates during their first tour.

The Duty Lawyer Scheme: In this Scheme a roster of lawyers will be available in three of the Magistrates Courts to assist defendants without legal advice.

By

Legal advice in CDO's offices: arrangement with the legal associations, a roster of lawyers will make themselves available in two or three of the City District Offices to advise persons involved in legal problems.

6. I explained the Government would provide the administrative, secretarial and accommodation back-up for d) - f) above which we hoped would come into operation in November or perhaps December, and would pay relevant fees.

7. I pointed out that the problem of framing resulted not only from corruption, now very much reduced, but also from inexperience and inadequate supervision. Since the Force was now so young, adequate supervision would remain a problem for three or four years. On the other hand the much higher standard both of education and motivation of constables and inspectors joining the Force in recent years should help to reduce the problem. So should the comparatively large element of intake which would have benefited from two years at the Police Cadet School.

8. In conclusion I said that while I accepted that there were cases of framing, I thought the performance of the Police in every respect was a great improvement on what it was three or four years ago (to which she agreed). I did not think there was any sudden or dramatic step that we could take to eliminate all problems (and her preoccupation with framing was only one of these and a comparatively small one), but I looked to results from the large number of things we were doing referred to above.

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