a general shortage of all types of narcotics in Hong Kong combined with changes in tactics used by the traffickers. The trawler traffic from Thailand to Hong Kong, previously responsible for large-scale importations of morphine and opium, did not reappear this year. The current trend of traffickers is to use small groups of seamen and airline passengers to import small quantities of nar- cotics in luggage or by means of body-packs, as well as concealed inside otherwise legitimate air-freight and other cargo. There were also indications that narcotics were being imported through the mail in small quantities.
Diversification
A disturbing feature which emerged during the year was the diversification in the types of drug imported into Hong Kong. In the past, imports were, by and large, limited to raw opium and morphine. However, since last year, there has been a significant incidence of imports of prepared opium and heroin. A number of factors have brought about the change, the most important being that these drugs require no further refining, or preparation, once they reach Hong Kong. Consequently the risk of detection at this stage is removed.
Security measures taken by traffickers and manufacturers have been greatly improved with the result that detection, and the gathering of intelligence, have been more difficult than ever.
Refineries have been operating on a highly mobile basis and producing heroin to order - the chemist making up a pre-determined quantity and then waiting until that quantity is used up before refining a second batch; hence the term 'suitcase refineries'.
The major success of the year was the neutralisation of the last remaining established large narcotics syndicate.
This was the culmination of several years of investiga- tion and preparation of evidence by the Narcotics Bureau. Up until 1973, this syndicate was the largest importer of bulk opium and morphine. Police pressure then disrupted the syndicate's established operations, although individual members continued to traffic in small quantities. In all, nine persons were arrested and the charges centre around the period of heavy importation between 1967 and 1973.
The accumulative effect on the street level market is a shortage of supply and spiralling prices for illicit drugs. Traffickers are acutely aware of the danger of their trade and will, generally, sell only to known customers. There- fore, the addict is finding it much more difficult to obtain his daily dose.
The number of methadone clinics operated by the Gov- ernment for addicts increased during the year, and now well over 20,000 addicts have registered for the detoxifica- tion and maintenance schemes. The increase in registration has been undoubtedly influenced by periodic shortages and inflated prices caused by effective enforcement action. The price of heroin, in particular, reached an all time high during the year.
Support Services
Criminal Records Bureau
This is the central registry of criminals and crime for the whole of Hong Kong. It provides an information system
to which various formations contribute, and they, in turn, have access to some, or all, of the information available. During the year the Criminal Intelligence Unit and the Police Supervisee Section were hived off, the forer now being a bureau in its own right and the latter forg part of the newly constituted Crime Prevention Bureau. The Interpol Bureau has also separated so that the Criminal Records Bureau now has a completely unfettered support role.
With the increasing number of convictions the Bureau has expanded, although it is hampered by lack of space. To overcome this, microfilming was introduced in 1973, and today only criminal record files for persons who have three or more convictions, together with investigation files which were created in the current or immediately preceding year, are held in ‘jacket' form.
The use of automatic data processing continues to be applied to the indices. The Modus Operandi Index, which lists the methods used to commit crime, was computerised last year but regrettably still on a batch processing system. Funds have been approved for a feasibility study of the computerisation of the Nominal Index. This is the key to all crime personalities and currently contains approximately 700,000 names.
Identification Bureau
Fingerprint technology, forensic photography and hand- writing identification continued to play an important role in crime detection. The specialised facilities afforded by the Identification Bureau were fully utilised and 416 finger- print identifications resulted from finger and palm prints found at 9,177 scenes of crime. This identification rate shows an increase of 57 per cent over last year's successes.
Fingerprints are also used to determine whether an arrested person has a criminal record. The unit dealing with this aspect of fingerprint work conducted 43,334 searches in respect of arrested persons, and established that 23,559 had criminal records.
A 24-hour forensic photography service is provided by the Bureau, and during the year a total of 358,433 photo- graphs were supplied. The highly professional police photographic staff attended a total of 3,292 assignments, varying in nature from road accidents and historical events, to night photographic surveillance and serial photography. Much of this work now involves colour photography and the unit is equipped for processing and printing colour film.
In the field of handwriting and typescript identification a total of 2,551 unidentified writings (blackmail, indecent, threatening and false accusation letters) are filed for reference purposes. Specimen typescripts from 1,338 machines are maintained in a classified collection to facilitate the identification of anonymous scripts submitted in connection with criminal investigations.
Laboratories
There are four well-equipped laboratories within the Royal Hong Kong Police, two being in the CID at Police Head- quarters and two in the district headquarters in Kowloon. This means there is now one Forensic Pathology Laboratory and one Forensic Chemistry Laboratory in each of the urban districts. They are staffed by highly qualified pro-
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