ENG-2001 — Page 393

PUBLIC ORDER

Public Order

There were no major incidents affecting public order in Hong Kong during the year.

The Police Tactical Unit (PTU) Headquarters provides training to Regional and District personnel to cope with internal security commitments. During the year, more than 1300 officers formed eight PTU companies to receive such training. The training provides officers with the capability to carry out a wide range of duties, including anti-crime patrols, anti-illegal immigration operations, security assurance, and crowd management during festive occasions, public gatherings, processions and demonstrations.

PTU officers played an important role in the successful policing of three major international events hosted in Hong Kong during the year the Fortune Global Forum in May, the 10th East Asia Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum in October, and the 14th General Meeting of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council in November.

The Special Duties Unit (SDU), which is the Police Force's counter-terrorist response unit, is also based at PTU Headquarters and during the year it was deployed on a number of occasions to assist other units in various operations.

A major counter-terrorist exercise was held at the Hong Kong International Airport, involving the SDU along with a number of non-governmental and quasi- governmental organisations which operate at the airport.

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau

The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Bureau is responsible for all bomb disposal work in Hong Kong, both on dry land and underwater.

The bureau was called out 496 times, making 2001 the busiest year since its establishment in 1972. The majority of the call-outs were related to the discovery of World War II-era ordnance during dredging operations for land reclamation. Some of the ordnance was in highly unstable condition and, on occasion, still underwater. These discoveries resulted in several extensive and hazardous operations, involving permanent EOD establishment officers and the volunteer EOD Cadre, to destroy over 500 shells in controlled explosions.

Following the terrorist attacks in the United States in September, the bureau was heavily engaged in anthrax-related call-outs which were either hoaxes or the result of misunderstandings. All of these were handled within the context of radiological, biological and chemical (RBC) incidents for which plans and training had been in place for several years. The rapid response helped to ensure that disruption to daily life was kept to a minimum. None of the call-outs resulted in the discovery of anthrax or any credible RBC agent.

Illegal Immigration

There has been an overall downward trend since 1993 in illegal immigration from the Mainland. During the year, 7918 illegal immigrants (IIs) were arrested by police officers, an average of 22 per day, representing a small increase of 3.8 per cent compared with 7 631 in 2000. Of these, almost 57 per cent claimed to have entered Hong Kong by sea and the remaining 43 per cent crossed the land boundary.

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