ENG-1993 — Page 335

PUBLIC ORDER

Family life education continued to play an important part in the welfare programme, with emphasis on good parental guidance and personal finance management.

A total of 1 877 children of regular and auxiliary police officers were awarded bursaries from the two police education trust funds. The Police Children's Education Trust distributed $4,152,000 and the Police Education and Welfare Trust distributed $1,075,325, to assist them to pursue various levels of education.

Force Housing

The Force manages a total of 11 586 quarters, of which 10 403 are for junior police officers. These include 288 new quarters at the Tsing Yi Police Married Quarters and 152 ex- military quarters at Queen's Hill Camp. The construction of 408 quarters in Fanling and 429 quarters in Wong Tai Sin are underway and scheduled for completion by 1994 and 1996, respectively. In 1993, the Force was again allocated 400 units under the Disciplined Services Quota of the Government Public Housing Scheme. Other alternative sources of accommodation which remain open to eligible junior police officers include the Home Purchase Scheme, Housing Loan Scheme and Home Ownership Scheme.

The programme to refurbish 4 500 married quarters for junior police officers over a nine-year period was progressing well. Since the introduction of the scheme in 1987, 1 621 quarters have been refurbished, resulting in a marked improvement in the structural condition and standard of these old blocks of quarters.

The policy to provide housing for all eligible married police officers, including those in the inspectorate and superintendent cadres, continued to be implemented progressively. Efforts were made to acquire more quarters of higher grading to replace the current sub- standard ones, rather than opting for sheer numbers.

Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force

Manned entirely by part-time volunteers from all walks of life, the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force has a proud history dating back to 1914.

The traditional role of the Force was to provide the regular police with additional manpower for emergencies. Subsequent to the Fight Violent Crime Campaign in 1973, the auxiliary police have provided increasing support and are presently fully integrated with their regular counterparts in a wide variety of daily constabulary duties in the field of crime prevention, neighbourhood policing, traffic control, special duties and community relations. The auxiliary police also provide support in communications duties in police command and control centres.

The strength of the Force at the end of the year was 5 629, out of a total establishment of 5746 officers of all ranks. Approximately 10.8 per cent of the Force was composed of women officers.

Between January to March, the average daily turnout for normal constabulary duty was 850 officers. From April to the end of 1993, this turnout was reduced to 750 officers in the light of improvements in the operational strength of the regular force.

Customs and Excise

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The Customs and Excise Department is organised into five major branches Headquarters Branch, Operations Branch, Investigation Branch, Trade Controls Branch and the Civil Secretariat. It is primarily responsible for the collection and protection of

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