Appendix D-Contd.
Officers joining the scheme may benefit from the payment of Home Purchase Allowance (HPA) for a maximum of 120 months. A total of 10 471 officers have joined the scheme. Of this number, 2 410 are officers who were eligible for private tenancy allowance or non-departmental quarters. The remaining 8 061 were not eligible for such housing benefits.
7 The total expenditure on HPA in 1987-88 is estimated at $741.5 million compared with the revised estimate for 1986–87 of $583.0 million. The increase of $158.5 million is mainly due to the need to make full-year provision of about $118.4 million for the 2050 new participants approved to join the scheme during 1986-87. Provision is made in the 1987–88 draft Estimates for a further 2 000 officers to join the scheme.
8 The cost of staff pensions will continue to rise as new pensioners become eligible for payment at higher terminal salaries.
9 Expenditure on pensions can be expected to rise further in the medium term if a new civil service pension scheme, currently under consideration, is introduced. The rate of growth will fall in the long term.
(B) Security Services
10 Security Services comprise law and order, immigration services and internal security. These encompass the Police, ICAC, Correctional Services, Judiciary, Immigration, Government legal services, the Royal Hong Kong Regiment, the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force, contributions to the cost of the garrison, and maintenance of border protection against illegal immigrants. Expenditure in 1987-88 is forecast to be $6,870 million compared with $6,266 million in 1986–87—an increase of 9.6%.
(B)(1) Law and Order
11 The share of resources allocated to law and order services has remained steady at around 8.3% to 8.9% of total government expenditure in 1982–83 to 1986–87 (Table 1).
12 The Police Force has continued its steady expansion in the 1980s to strengthen its capability to prevent and combat crime and to cope with the development of the new towns. The Auxiliary Police Force provides support to the regular Force during times of emergency and assists the regular Force in day-to-day constabulary duties. Statistics showing the establishment of the Police Force and the average daily turnout of the Auxiliary Police Force over the past five years are as follows—
Table 3
1982-83
1983-84
1984-85
1985-86
1986-87 (estimated)
1987-88 (estimated)
Establishment
28 440
29 472
30 310
Average daily turnout of
976
953
683
30 978
714
31 672
32 500
711
700
Auxiliary Police
L
13 The primary policing function of watch and ward duties is carried out by the Uniform Branch of the Force, which has undergone a series of major restructuring exercises in recent years aimed at improving its effectiveness and efficiency in the deployment of resources. To provide a more effective command structure for the policing of the Kowloon Region, arrangements are being made to split the Kowloon Region into Kowloon East and Kowloon West in 1990–91. A gradual build-up of the necessary additional manpower has commenced, with the creation of 29 posts in 1986, and a further 46 posts in 1987.
14 Additional staff will also be provided in 1987-88 for the two new district/divisional and two new divisional police stations at Tai Po, Tsing Yi, Lo Wu and Siu Lek Yuen and the new Sha Tau Kok Police Post. With the rapid development of the New Territories, planning has commenced for its split in 1992-93 into two regions- New Territories North and New Territories South. Coupled with the expansion of the Uniform Branch is the development and improvement of the communications systems of the Force. Financial approval of $196 million has been given for the implementation of the Integrated Radio Services System. From now until the end of the decade, an increasing proportion of the Force's resources will be committed to the communications element of the Command and Control System replacement project.
15 The Crime Wing of the Force is responsible for the investigation of crime, crime prevention, intelligence gathering and maintenance of the security of the territory. In order to improve its effectiveness and efficiency, the criminal investigation and prevention elements of the Force were reorganized on 1 October 1982. Except for 1985, the overall crime rate has shown a general declining trend from 1982 to 1986. The Commercial Crime Bureau continues to handle fraud cases of growing complexity. Examples are investigations into the Overseas Trust Bank,
45
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.