TNAG-1555-FCO40-2119-Broadcasting-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 116

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Use of task forces

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The Americans have considerable resources and a large body of specialised investigators and prosecutors. Their view is that the traditional reactive response to complaints of criminal activity cannot start to cope with sophisticated organised crime. Local facilities are usually overstretched. Special task forces of prosecutors are established working with investigators to plan enquiries designed to surface evidence, rather than making cases out of material that emerges from the incidents of investigation.

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In Hong Kong similar, admittedly smaller scale, arrangements are made from time to time. Task forces have been employed in the investigation and prosecution of commercial crime. These task forces employ Police/ICAC investigators, specialists, crown counsels, accountants and from time to time staff from other government departments and outside professionals. It is fair to say that the prosecution of these crimes has been greatly facilitated by this approach.

Option

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The employment of this task force approach could equally exist in the investigation and prosecution of the forms of organised crime which manifest themselves in Hong Kong and are dealt with in this paper. The reasons are

(a)

the investigation and detection of organised crime is a specialist and sensitive kind of investigation. It also has physical dangers for the investigators;

(b)

it requires a long term commitment by and of those personnel;

(c)

the legal issues require specialist knowledge; and

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(d)

because some of the money gained from illegal triad activities is channelled through licit or apparently licit

media, accounting and commercial knowledge is a minimum requirement for successful investigation.

A task force approach as described has not been tried in Hong Kong with respect to the problems described in this paper. There is a strong argument for employing this approach. The task force appraoch will not solve the triad problem. It will be at best a contribution to its solution.