TNAG-2093-FCO40-2979-Royal-Hong-Kong-Police-Force-1990 — Page 90

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The final report of the Rennie Committee was a major disappointment to the Police Force Management and all members of the Force. While the Committee paid tribute to the Force as being the Government's agency of last resort it failed to fully appreciate the responsibilities and unique position of the Police Service. The end result was that those disciplined services which were then experiencing difficulty in recruitment and high wastage rates received higner rewards than the Police in order to attract and retain scaff.

The Commissioner made strong representations to the Secretary for the Civil Service and reluctantly accepted implementation on the understanding that the shortcomings would be rectified by the Police Sub-committee of the Standing Committee on Disciplined Services Pay and Conditions of Service which Your

Excellency established in 1989.

Due to the overlap with the Directorate Salary Scales which the Rennie

Committee did not examine, the salary scales for Chief Superintendents, Senior

Superintendents and Superintendents, proposed by Rennie were of an incerim nature. His Committee recommended that these salaries be reviewed by the Standing Committee in an examination of Police salary scales for all ranks from Superintendent to

Commissioner. In late 1989 the Police Force Management submitted a report to the

Standing Committee proposing new salary scales for all Police Officers of and above

the rank of Superintendent. This is the only major submission on which the Standing

Committee has made recommendations so far. The recommendations were Chat

Superintendents and Senior Superintendents receive no further salary increase and

salary increases proposed for Directorate Officers in the Force followed the

recommendacions made by the Ross Committee. This had the added effect of reducing the differential between Chief Superintendents and DI Officers. Your petitioners

found this unacceptable and questioned the need for a committee which blindly

followed the recommendations made by another body. The recommendations made by the

Standing Committee were accepted by the Executive Council and subsequently implemented.

The Superintendents Association rejected the findings of the Standing

Committee and requested the establishment of Police representation in the

consultative machinery so that direct dialogue between the Standing Committee and

the Force, including the four Police Staff Associacions could be achieved.

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