HONG KONG ISLAND DISTRICT
Hong Kong Island District is responsible for policing the main administrative and commercial hub of the territory. Its boundaries contain the main centres of Government, financial and cultural activities, together with the various offices of the Corps Consular which require a specialised form of policing.
The most densely populated areas on the insland are on the north coast, but there has been considerable residential property development in the Repulse Bay and neighbouring areas over the past few years together with the growth of Aberdeen. The most recent estimate for the population of Hong Kong Island gives a figure of 1,026,870 – a popula- tion density of 13,165 per square kilometre (34,229 per square mile).
There are four police divisions within the district; Western, Central, Wan Chai and Eastern. The experiment involving the creation of the South Area sub-command, within Western, to cope with peculiar problems of distance and luxury dwellings continued throughout the year, and the success of the experiment is now being evaluated.
The total authorised establishment in the district was 3,051 police officers and 429 civilians.
The personal beat radio scheme, introduced at the end of 1976, has proved most successful in reducing the re- sponse time to 999 calls with an average response time of only 3.6 minutes. The second phase of the computer- controlled information system is scheduled to be opera- tional in early 1978. This new facility will streamline procedures by reducing the amount of paper work and providing an improved information flow and retrieval.
Crime and Policing
During 1977, the incidence of crime in the District was 12,868 against 14,530 in 1976. This represents a decrease of 11.4 per cent. The detection rate remained steady at 58.9 per cent.
The statistics below show comparative figures for various selected categories of crime and the related detection rates:
Cases reported Cases detected
Robbery Burglary Serious assault
Drug Offences
1976 1977 1976
1,698 1,167 356
1,508 1,328 140
934 953 673
514 317 514
988 338 984
Preventive crime 1,870 1,431 1,865
Detection rate
1977 1976 1977
297 21% 25.4%
191 9.3% 14.4% 733 72.1% 76.9% 317 100% 100% 338 99.6% 100% 1,425 99.7% 99.6%
Triad offences
The decrease in robberies and burglaries can be at- tributed to improved economic conditions together with increased police activity including an expansion of the CID.
Notwithstanding the decrease in the incidence of dan- gerous drug offences and triad offences, offensive action in these fields was maintained. An increased sophistication of operation on the part of drug dealers was noted.
The top priorities for the coming year are to further reduce serious crime in particular, and all crime generally, and to improve the detection rate. To achieve these objects, case and operational research into current and undetected cases is being carried out, and the results of this research will be analysed together with known trends to identify future trends, improve preventive policing and, on the basis of knowledge acquired, improve the detection rate.
Central Division
The business heart of the territory is located in this division. The many banks, finance houses, stock-exchanges, shops and office blocks all create special policing problems. Every working day, thousands of people travel to work in Central from all over the territory.
The average ratio of police officers to the residential population is about 1:300, but with the influx of office workers and tourists during office hours this ratio increases to 1:800. The heavy concentration of people in the com- mercial area during peak hours necessitates the use of staggered shift duties for patrol purposes to cover high risk premises; these duties are superimposed upon, and rein- force, the normal beat duties.
In 1977, a total of 2,336 crimes were reported, represent- ing a decrease of about 1.7 per cent. Of these 1,393 cases were detected giving an overall detection rate of 59.6 per cent, a slight decrease of 1.7 per cent.
There are no known vice gangs operating in Central. A small number of prostitutes use old boarding houses and solicit business mainly from seamen. Drug trafficking tended to be on a very small scale. Organised gambling was not a major problem though some street gambling still exists among coolies and daily-paid workers.
One of the major incidents during the year was a demonstration by the Revolutionary Marxist League at the Star Ferry concourse in May. Four members of the League marched from Victoria Park to the concourse in protest against the action of police in refusing to grant a permit to hold a 'May Rally' in the park. They refused to move away from the concourse and argued with the police. Their actions attracted a crowd causing an obstruction for which they were arrested and subsequently convicted of 'unlawful assembly', 'disorderly conduct' and 'loitering so as to cause a noisy assembly'.
Traffic continued to be a major problem, especially during peak hours. The situation was aggravated by the mass transit work and the construction of flyovers at both ends of Garden Road,
A new sub-unit was created to serve the Macdonnell Road area. This brought the total to three sub-units serving the Mid-Levels area. This type of facility is popular with the local residents and has proved highly successful in dealing with problems.
Another problem peculiar to Central Division is the security of Government House, together with the respon- sibility for crowd control and security when petitions are handed in at either Government House or the Secretariat.
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