PUBLIC ORDER
of newly-designed materials in large quantities, the publishing of an ICAC periodical for schools and better use of market surveys to ascertain user needs.
To further educate the public against the evils of corruption and promote better understanding of the work of the ICAC, the department produced a 13-episode televi- sion drama series. Entitled Vanguard, each episode contained a separate story adapted from completed ICAC investigations. This was the fifth drama series produced by the department and was telecast in a weekday prime-time slot. It was rated among the top 10 programmes on television, showing that a substantial publicity impact had been achieved.
On the advertising front, the department continued to emphasise the importance of corruption prevention in the commercial and industrial sectors. This was done mainly through television advertising. For further publicity, the department started a direct mail campaign aimed at small factories and companies. The reporting of corruption was also encouraged through an ICAC hotline promotion campaign.
Government Laboratory
The Forensic Science Division of the Government Laboratory provides scientific and technical support to those government departments enforcing law and order. The laboratory handled more than 80 000 samples in 1989, collected from a wide spectrum of criminal activities including homicides, sexual assaults, poisoning and drugs, forgeries and fatal accidents.
Armed with sophisticated instruments like the scanning electron microscope and the Argon-ion Laser, and with special expertise in different activities such as arson in- vestigations and blood spatter examinations, the laboratory played a vital supportive role in the fight against crime. The growing significance of forensic evidence has resulted in a constantly-increasing demand for the service and, to cope with the heavier workload, modern instrumentation as well as advanced methodology are utilised.
Recent developments in molecular biology have led to another profound and powerful technique of personal individualisation: DNA profiling. The laboratory and the two universities in Hong Kong jointly started to explore the application of this technique to the local population in the latter part of 1989 and its routine introduction into forensic casework is expected in 1990.
Document experts of the laboratory have continued to face a heavy workload from commercial fraud, forgery and counterfeiting. Their achievements over the past few years in the development work in Chinese handwriting comparison were recognised by the award of the P. W. Allan medallion by the Forensic Science Society in the United Kingdom for excellence in handwriting research.
Laboratory expertise in road accident reconstruction had been called upon frequently by the police Traffic Division both in accident investigation and in the training of specialist police officers. The laboratory has been appointed as the examination authority in Hong Kong for the City and Guilds Institute, London, for traffic accident reconstruction.
During the year, laboratory staff attended over 600 crime scenes for evidence collection and scene examination and lectured extensively to all client departments in their law en- forcement training courses.
Correctional Services
The Correctional Services Department administers a wide range of programmes for adults, young offenders, drug addicts and the criminally insane. Broadly, three categories
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