TNAG-0817-FCO40-1023-Police-corruption-Independent-Commission-Against-Corruption--1978 — Page 100

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CONFIDENTI AL

large number of cases to the Governor himself whom they felt had given publicity and support not only to ICAC but to other organizations of the Government while neglecting the interests of the Police. However, in my opinion, the morale of the all important Inspectorate and junior gazetted officers was much better than I expected and I believe that they will co-operate loyally in measures to reorganize the Force.

4. In my discussion with more senior officers I suspected an attempt to make me believe that all was for the best, that the events of November 1977 had been an isolated incident and that there was no danger of its recurrence. It was only Mr Slevin himself who underlined the seriousness of the events of November

and maintained that unless a thorough reorganization of the Force

and communications within the Force was carried out there was a

very real danger of a recurrence.

5. Almost all the policemen I spoke to, again with the exception

of the Commissioner himself, maintained that there was now practically no important corruption in the Force. This is completely at variance with evidence presented to me by ICAC which, while maintaining that syndicated corruption had been effectively destroyed, showed that a very large number of actively corrupt officers are still about. They also described a new phenomenon in that many police officers who had previously simply accepted corrupt payments were now themselves actively taking a part in criminal activities. There was clear evidence both from police and from ICAC sources that the reduction in the income of a large proportion of the Police Force had resulted in massive amounts of indebtedness by serving officers. The Commissioner's estimate was that there was now something like HK$5m. worth of serious indebtedness by members of the Force, i.e. debts which were a serious embarrassment to the debtors, ignoring minor and routine debts. It seems now firmly agreed that the concept of accountability by supervising officers for the misdeeds of their subordinates has been accepted. This is a positive move and one which we here would firmly support. It is, of course, a sort

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