ENG-1975 — Page 155

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PUBLIC ORDER

The Standing Conference on Road Safety continued to co-ordinate road safety activities throughout Hong Kong, which included a campaign publicising the 'crossing code'.

In carrying out the fixed penalty system, officers followed the Commissioner of Police's encouragement to exercise discretion and deal with minor traffic offences by verbal warning. The total number of tickets issued was 5.3 per cent less than in the previous year. There were 482,214 parking tickets issued, of which 2.9 per cent were either withdrawn or cancelled on technical grounds. Where it was decided to proceed, 393,189 penalties were paid without appearance in court and a further 33,460 after a court hearing. Of the 82,495 cases heard in court, 734 were contested and 11 dismissed. Where court orders were made because fixed penalty debts incurred by the registered owners had not been paid, recourse under law to obtain court orders to seize the defaulters' vehicles continued. Seizure orders were issued in respect of 611 motor vehicles and 26 were seized.

The traffic wardens corps-formed in 1974 has been expanded by an extra 50 posts to 143. Traffic wardens are engaged primarily on the enforcement of the Fixed Penalty (Traffic Contraventions) Ordinance by issuing fixed penalty tickets in respect of parking offences, but they also perform traffic control duty in areas where there are many pedestrians. During the year the wardens issued 168,675 fixed penalty tickets-35 per cent of the total. Revenue derived from the fixed penalty system amounted to about $12.8 million.

Administration

There were three projects completed in the police building programme in 1975. They included the Eastern Divisional Police Headquarters and North Point Sub- Divisional Station, the reprovisioning of Auxiliary Police Headquarters, and addi- tional accommodation at the Police Training School. In preparation for the personal radio scheme, work on a new command and control centre was started at Hong Kong Island District Headquarters. By the end of the year, construction of Kwai Chung Divisional Station and Phase II of Kowloon District Headquarters was well advanced. There were 46 projects in the building programme 'at the end of the year, excluding three police stations planned in connection with new towns development. High priority has been given to the Police Cadet School, the provision of police stations in new towns and the provision of married quarters.

The planning and research division of Police Headquarters completed a number of major projects-including an assessment of neighbourhood policing, a study of crime in public housing estates, the development of a tactical information system for more effective deployment of resources, and assessments of a wide range of equip- ment. Progress was made in the development of electronic data processing facilities. within the force, and a system for police use of the computerised transport records system was also developed.

Police Tactical Unit

The primary role of the Police Tactical Unit at Fanling is to provide all members of the police force with a thorough grouding in anti-riot and crowd control tactics.