ENG-1985 — Page 248

PUBLIC ORDER

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Through the work of its working group on youth, the committee identified and assessed the effectiveness of the existing legislative and administrative arrangements for dealing with young offenders and other young persons requiring care and protection. It aimed at enhancing such arrangements and improving co-ordination. In particular, it embarked upon a study of means to improve the way young offenders are individually assessed so that the courts might have a better opportunity to commit them on the basis of advice on the correctional programme which would be most likely to reform them.

The committee endorsed a proposal to set up a standardised law and order statistics system to provide compatible statistics for the use of all branches of the criminal justice system. It also decided to examine the need for a more sophisticated integrated statistics system which would help the government in targetting its crime-fighting efforts.

Close liaison was established between the committee and its district counterparts. An annual conference of all members of the committee and of the district committees took place in December. The conference highlighted the role of district committees in the task of fighting crime.

Police Force

The three-day visit to China in February by the Commissioner of Police marked a new era in the exchange of information and personal contact relating to the maintenance of law and order on both sides of the border.

The visit arose from China's admission in 1984 to the International Criminal Police Organisation, Interpol. Constructive and useful discussions on law enforcement problems, and their solutions, were held between the Commissioner of Police and officials from China's Public Security Bureau in Peking and from Guangdong Province. Methods of communications and liaison were among the main points raised in the discussions. Other topics included counterfeit currency, narcotics, counter-terrorism, counter-hijacking, fugi- tive offenders and road traffic.

An initial benefit from the visit was a decision to establish a series of regular-meetings between the two law enforcement counterparts. These meetings are now taking place, being held alternately in Peking and Hong Kong.

During the year, the use of firearms in committing crimes remained a serious threat, although the incidence of armed robberies involving the use of genuine or imitation firearms decreased substantially.

A gunbattle ensued when police confronted armed criminals in the 'Golden Mile' area of Tsim Sha Tsui in the late hours of May 1. Six gunmen raided a watch company in Nathan Road and snatched watches worth more than $1 million. While making their escape, the rob- bers were intercepted by police who had taken up positions outside the shop. Some 120 shots were exchanged, during which four policemen sustained bullet wounds. In the early hours of September 24, the police raided a flat in Happy Valley and arrested seven men. All were charged with offences relating to the robbery and shootout in Nathan Road, and other crimes. Another serious incident involving firearms occurred on March 13, when a goldsmith shop in Kowloon City was raided by five men carrying guns; stock worth over $1 million was taken. In making their getaway, the robbers were stopped by two police officers on plainclothes duty outside the shop. In the exchange of fire that followed, two of three suspects and one officer were wounded. Subsequent investigations led to the seizure of a cache of firearms and several arrests.

A case which caused widespread concern was the killing of two British teenagers on a hillside in the Braemar Hill area of Hong Kong Island on April 20. The brutal killings led