ENG-1971 — Page 203

PUBLIC ORDER

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An increase in the women police establishment, approved in June, resulted in an increase of all ranks, with the two main land districts of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon having a gazetted officer responsible to the District Commander for women police matters. This expansion led to the first local woman officer being promoted to gazetted officer rank. Since July, all women police have been required to undergo training in crowd control duties at the Police Tactical Unit. Over the past few years, the work of police- women has become more varied with far wider scope in the opera- tional field.

Members of the auxiliary police force come from all walks of life and voluntarily devote eight hours a month and 14 days a year to constabulary duties and training. Three recruiting centres were opened in September. Auxiliary police are deployed whenever necessary to support the regular force.

PRISONS

When the Colony was founded one of the first two buildings to be constructed of durable materials was a prison. Today the site still serves its original purpose, and on it stands a reception and classification centre. The Commissioner of Prisons is responsible for the overall administration of 10 institutions. These include maximum_security prisons, an open prison, training centres for young offenders, and drug addiction treatment centres. In addition, there is a 'half-way' house and a staff training institute.

All convicted male prisoners are received at Victoria Reception Centre where they undergo a thorough medical examination and appear before a classification board for assignment to an institution best suited to their needs. The centre also contains a psychiatric observation unit manned by trained staff under a consultant psy- chiatrist. This unit will be rehoused in 1972 in a new psychiatric centre of 120 beds at Siu Lam in the New Territories.

Stanley Prison, Hong Kong's largest maximum security establish- ment, was completed in 1936 with accommodation for 1,600 pris- oners. During 1971 the prison had an average daily muster of 2,398. It is the main industrial centre and the activities include tailoring, carpentry, metalwork, shoemaking, basketwork, silk screening, fibreglass moulding, and laundry work. Unskilled pris- oners benefit from involvement in these industrial pursuits and are taught by qualified technical instructors.