ENG-2001 — Page 410

PUBLIC ORDER

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Government Laboratory

The Forensic Science Division of the Government Laboratory provides comprehensive scientific services to law enforcement departments. Most of its work is crime-related and the major clients are the Hong Kong Police Force, the Customs and Excise Department and the Immigration Department. Accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, the division adopts, and complies with, a stringent quality assurance system. To meet its commitments, the division is equipped with state-of-the-art instruments, and assumes an independent and impartial approach to all its work.

The division comprises the Physical and Biochemical Evidence Group (P&BE Group) and the Drugs and Toxicology Group (D&T Group). In the former group, most of the work involves comparative, opinion-based evidence derived from serious. offences such as homicide, rape and robbery. The work of the latter group is related to the analyses of both controlled drugs and also poisonous substances in biological samples from deceased persons whose cause of death is unknown. Moreover, a professionally trained team provides 24-hour services for general crime scene examinations and other specialist crime scene services, which include blood pattern analysis, fire investigation, traffic accident reconstruction and inspections at premises involving illicit drug manufacturing.

The Parentage Testing Section and the DNA Database Section formed under the P&BE Group began to provide case analysis services in the latter half of 2001. A total of 75 cases relating to the verification of claimed parent/child relationship were handled by the Parentage Testing Section, while the DNA Database Section analysed 792 samples from suspects and convicted persons. The information from the latter was compared with DNA profiles of biological samples collected from crime scenes. Consequently, 10 new arrests were linked to previous crime cases. These results prove that the DNA database is an important aid in successful detection of unsolved crimes. The rising demand for the express analysis of suspect identity and travel documents continued in 2001. The Questioned Documents Section under the P&BE Group handled 2103 cases of this nature, a 14 per cent rise compared with 2000.

The D&T Group comprises the Controlled Drugs Sections and the Forensic Toxicology Sections. In 2001, the abuse of 'party drugs' continued to increase, as evidenced by the rise in the number of cases involving ketamine, 'ecstasy' and cannabis examined by the Controlled Drugs Sections. The number of urine samples submitted for the urinalysis of controlled non-opiate psychotropic substances also escalated by 50 per cent while the number of suicide cases pertaining to carbon monoxide poisoning brought about by burning charcoal continued to increase.

Immigration Department

Immigration Control

The Immigration Department plays an important role in maintaining law and order by controlling entry into the HKSAR. Through examination at control points and vetting of entry applications, undesirable persons including international criminals and terrorists are detected and denied entry. In 2001, 12 484 such travellers and 8 802 other persons not in possession of proper documentation were refused permission to land, and 3 101 applications for entry were refused.