ENG-1997 — Page 350

PUBLIC ORDER

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Vietnamese Arrivals

An increase in Vietnamese illegal immigrants (VIIs) that began in the latter half of 1996 continued into 1997 with 1 721 VIIs being intercepted. These were primarily economic migrants who came to Hong Kong to seek illegal employment. The government aims to repatriate all Vietnamese migrants (VMs) and VIIs as soon as possible. During the year, the Police provided escorts under the Orderly Repatriation Programme for the repatriation of 2 478 VMs and VIIS on 25 flights to Vietnam without any untoward incidents.

Bomb Disposal

During the year, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau rendered safe 12 083 explosive devices, including home-made bombs, pyrotechnics and unexploded items of ordnance. It was also required to investigate explosions. The most notable was an accident in which a man was killed during the filming of a special-effect sequence.

Police Dog Unit

The Police Dog Unit, which was provided with purpose-built training facilities, trains general-purpose patrol dogs and dogs for different aspects of search work. Apart from foot patrols, Police dogs joined mobile patrol teams to enable a speedy response to any incident. Patrol dogs were involved in the arrests of 1 073 persons in 618 cases in 1997.

Search dogs were trained to search for dangerous drugs, explosives and firearms. They were deployed at the Hong Kong International Airport. They also provided support for searches in special operations, especially during major events of the year including the Handover Ceremony and the WB/IMF Annual Meetings.

Traffic

Traffic officers played a major role in the year's large-scale public events. The Handover Ceremony and the WB/IMF Annual Meetings necessitated major diversionary traffic schemes and full deployment of the Force Escort Group as well as regional enforcement and control teams.

The opening of major infrastructure projects associated with the port and airport development led to an increased policing commitment, notably at the West Kowloon Corridor and the bridges and highways linking to Lantau Island.

Enforcement of drink-driving legislation introduced in 1995 continued to expand, although the number of drivers involved in accidents and found to have consumed alcohol remained constant at around 10 per cent. All traffic patrol officers had been issued with screening devices by the end of the year.

Additional cameras for detecting red-light offences were bought, allowing the number of locations covered to double from 15 to 30. A further 15 sets of equipment were installed at junctions on the Light Rail Transit system in the New Territories, which were considered accident black spots. Mobile Enforcement also benefited with the purchase of two more VASCAR in-car video speed detection devices.

During 1997, there were 14 747 traffic accidents involving casualties, representing an increase of 2.4 per cent over the previous year. The number of fixed penalty tickets