Police-1968-1969 — Page 16

POLICE DISTRICTS AND THE UNIFORMED BRANCH

30. All Districts are divided into a number of Divisions which are in turn divided into Sub-Divisions. Divisions are commanded by Super- intendents while Sub-Divisions are commanded by Senior Inspectors or in some cases Inspectors.

31. The main body of the Force is the Uniformed Branch. All police officers start their careers in this branch in order to gain experience of basic police work. The specialist branches, which support the Uniformed Branch in its role of maintaining law and order, draw their manpower from the Uniformed Branch.

32. In addition to staffing Police Stations, performing court duties and undertaking beat patrols, the Uniformed Branch operates Emergency Units in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Territories Districts. In Kowloon, Hong Kong Island and New Territories Districts there are radio control rooms which include a '999' emergency call system.

SPECIAL BRANCH

33. The Special Branch is responsible for the prevention of sub- versive activities and for supplying the intelligence necessary for the maintenance of internal security.

OTHER FORMATIONS

34. The Criminal Investigation Department is described in Part IV, the Traffic Branch in Part V, the Police Training School and Police Tactical Unit in Part III and the Communications and Transport Branch in Part VI.

ESTABLISHMENT AND STRENGTH

35. The Force establishment, excluding civilian posts, for the financial year 1968-69 was 12,253 as against 11,383 for the previous year, an increase of 870. This establishment included 199 super- numerary posts. At the end of the year the strength was 11,471 giving a deficiency of 782. The distribution of the Force establishment at the 31st March, 1969 is shown in Appendix 3. Comparative establishment and strength figures for the last three years are:

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