10
Public Order
HONG KONG is one of the most densely populated places in the world. There is a population increase in the region of 100,000 a year and from the viewpoint of the Hong Kong Police, one of the most important demographic features of the past five years has been the rapid growth of new industrial and residential areas on the perimeter of the older urban areas. There has been a tendency for population growth to level off in the crowded areas of Victoria and the Kowloon peninsula, while at the same time there have been big increases in population due to the construction of factory and resettlement estates at Chai Wan, Aberdeen and Pok Fu Lam on Hong Kong Island, and at Kwun Tong, Wong Tai Sin, Cheung Sha Wan and Tsuen Wan-Kwai Chung on the mainland.
The police cannot afford to be left behind by this process of rapid development. It must expand and acquire the extra housing and equipment that are needed step-by-step with the creation of each newly populated area. Its well-established organization can never be static for very long and its structure has to be kept under constant review. As an example of this, it was decided during 1965 to split the Kowloon police district into two sub-districts with an overall commander responsible for major policy, but with each sub-district autonomous for the purposes of day-to-day administra- tion. The government's building programme gives the police high priority and during the year new divisional stations were opened at Kwun Tong, Mong Kok and Yuen Long. Marine police operational bases at Tai Po Kau and Tai Lam, and the second stage of the new Police Training School at Aberdeen, were also completed.
The government authorized increased police allowances effective from 1st January and a new recruiting team was formed to attract suitable recruits. During the year the Police Training School was full to capacity and it is likely that recruitment will have to con- tinue at a high level for at least the next two years in order to keep pace with increasing operational commitments.
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