ENG-1982 — Page 202

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seamanship, navigation, engineering, and wireless telegraphy training at the school. During the year, officers also received advanced radar training at the Hong Kong Polytechnic, first aid training with the St John Ambulance Association, and ship fire fighting courses with the Fire Services Department.

At the Police Tactical Unit in Fanling in the New Territories, 1 786 officers from the rank of constable to superintendent underwent training in all aspects of crowd control and internal security tactics. This training takes the form of a three-week initial course for supervising officers followed by a 10-week training course for the full company, consisting of 170 men. At the conclusion of this training period, companies are returned to their parent regions where, for a further 20 weeks, they perform a variety of duties encompassing the whole spectrum of police work from crowd control at large sporting or social occasions to specifically tasked anti-crime operations. In addition, the unit ran short refresher courses and training days for uniformed personnel of all ranks from the three land regions.

Some 1 235 drivers successfully completed training at the force's comprehensive driving school which provided basic, refresher, specialist and advanced training on a wide variety of vehicles.

During the year, 405 junior police officers attended full-time English language courses locally at the Police Education and Language Section, and nine local inspectorate officers attended higher education and English language courses at Lancaster University, England. In addition, 19 officers of various ranks attended training courses in professional and technical subjects in the United Kingdom, Canada, USA, Malaysia and West Germany. Another nine officers were taking a diploma course in Japanese at the Hong Kong Poly- technic and six officers were taking a diploma course in business studies at the Hang Seng School of Commerce.

Police Cadet School

Since its formation in 1973, the establishment of the Police Cadet School has progressively increased from its original 150 to its present 750. During its nine years of operation, 1 772 cadets have graduated from the school. Of this number, 1 588 joined the police force, 34 entered the Fire Services Department, 60 the Customs and Excise Department and 28 the Correctional Services Department.

Organisation and Structure

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The phased changes to the organisation and command structure of the force, which started during the year as a result of various in-depth reviews, are being co-ordinated by the Research Branch of the Management Services Wing. The responsibilities of Force Headquarters wings were also adjusted to provide a better balance. One of the major changes was the transfer of the Complaints and Internal Investigations Branch from the Management Services Wing to the Force Inspection Wing, which has since been retitled Inspection Services Wing. The Management Services Wing, in turn, took over responsibilities for the Communications and Transport Branch. The linking of this branch to the Management Services Wing, which is responsible for computer development, ensured greater cohesion in the area since communications and the use of computers are inextricably connected.

Following a comprehensive review of the Criminal Investigation Department, various organisational and procedural changes were effected. Criminal investigation, which formerly constituted a separate department, became a wing of the Operations Department facilitating better direction and co-ordination of all operational matters.