Police-1963-1964 — Page 13

PART I

GENERAL REPORT AND SURVEY OF THE YEAR

INTRODUCTION

At the end of the year Hong Kong's population was an estimated 3,664,000. This represents an increase during the year of some 114,000.

2. This increasing population, together with Hong Kong's expanding commerce and light industry, presents a number of special police problems and to deal with them adequately requires a change or extension in the methods of the Force.

3. The most striking aspect of the situation is the increase in housing, in particular low-cost and resettlement housing estates, where the com- bined number of persons accommodated on 31st March was 812,000. The increasing concentration of families in new multi-storey buildings, added to already over-crowded existing buildings, requires the extension of an effective police presence to new areas of development, without reducing the extent of existing responsibilities. For very high-density residential development over land previously occupied by small-scale farmers and squatters, previous methods of semi-rural policing with extended beats must be replaced by concentrated urban police coverage. Multi-storey blocks present particular difficulty in the prevention of crime, for criminals of all kinds, including drug addicts and traffickers, find it easier to elude detection, and the task of the police generally to maintain law and order is hampered by the sheer numbers of people. Crowd control by itself can become a full-time police problem, partic- ularly at times when housewives buy their fresh supplies from hawkers and shops, or when children leave their schools for home, or when families flock to traditional centres of entertainment on public holidays.

4. Redevelopment of existing urban areas, and new development of all kinds ranging from high-class residential accommodation to factories on new reclamations, also impose fresh responsibilities on the police in their function of watch and ward. At one period during the year, for example, special arrangements had to be made in the central business district of Hong Kong to deal with an epidemic of breakings-in in a

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