ENG-1999 — Page 382

PUBLIC ORDER

324

Selected staff attend relevant courses run by other government departments and local universities or participate in overseas visits and training in order to broaden their experience and to keep them abreast of the latest trends and developments in correctional services world-wide.

Visiting Justices

Penal institutions are visited by Justices of the Peace fortnightly or monthly, depending on the type of institution. The Justices receive and investigate complaints, inspect diets and report on living and working conditions. They may also advise the Commissioner of Correctional Services on employment opportunities for released prisoners.

Complaints

The Complaints Investigation Unit handles and investigates complaints in relation to the department's work. All investigation reports are subject to the scrutiny of the Case Review Committee chaired by the Deputy Commissioner.

Inmates may lodge complaints with visiting senior officers or utilise other channels for redressing grievances by making complaints to visiting Justices of the Peace, the Ombudsman or Legislative Councillors.

Civil Aid Service

The Civil Aid Service (CAS) is a government auxiliary emergency service. It has an establishment of 3 634 adults, 3 232 cadets and a permanent staff of 126 civil servants.

It performs the main role of supporting government departments during emergency situations. Volunteers are trained to perform emergency duties during typhoons, landslips and flooding; to search for and rescue people in distress in the mountains; to help the regular forces evacuate or rescue victims trapped under collapsed buildings or buried in landslides; to combat forest fires and oil pollution at sea; to carry out crowd control duties and to provide communication services at charity functions and government events.

The CAS provides full-time and part-time training to its volunteers, covering counter-disaster skills, fire-fighting, anti-oil pollution, flood rescue, radiological protection, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and conventional rescue instruction. In 1999, the CAS conducted 184 full-time courses and 159 part-time courses. With a view to enhancing the standard of performance, the CAS continued to send personnel, both permanent staff and volunteers, overseas for mountain rescue and disaster management training.

In carrying out the recommendations of the Inter-departmental Investigation Team after the Pat Sin Leng hill fire in 1996, the CAS continued to help promote public awareness of mountain safety. It provided training courses on mountain/hiking safety for organised groups, school teachers and hiking group leaders. It also provided mountain rescue training for members of the emergency services and working-at- height training for staff of government departments and private sector concerns. During the year, 25 mountain rescue/hiking safety courses and 14 working-at-height training sessions were organised.