ENG-2005 — Page 377

Public Order | 323

vehicle crime, gambling, prostitution and debt collection. A number of these operations were conducted in cooperation with neighbouring jurisdictions such as the Mainland and Macao. During the year, over 45 operations were carried out successfully, resulting in the arrest of over 500 people for various offences such as being a member of a triad society, armed robbery, use of firearms, blackmail, bookmaking (betting slips to the amount of $18.6 million were seized in one operation against illegal gambling) and handling stolen goods (40 people were arrested and over $7 million worth of luxury vehicles were recovered in another single operation). Several high-ranking triad office-bearers were also arrested and sentenced by the courts, and over $91 million was restrained during the year.

Witness Protection

The Police Witness Protection Programme is administered by the Police Witness Protection Unit. The unit provides a wide range of protective measures, authorised by the law, to take care of the needs of individual witnesses who are assessed as being exposed to a genuine threat of serious physical injury or death. The unit also assists and advises other units and divisions in the Police Force on protection of witnesses who are under a lesser degree of threat.

Domestic Violence

The Child Protection Policy Unit is responsible for mapping out policy, procedures and training on handling domestic violence, child abuse and abuse of the elderly. The unit organises and participates in publicity programmes on the prevention and handling of child abuse and domestic violence for the public and concerned professionals from the Government and non-governmental organisations.

In 2005, the Police investigated 112 child abuse cases at the regional level (108 involving sexual abuse and four involving serious physical abuse) compared to 115 the previous year, a drop of 2.6 per cent. Joint action was taken with the Social Welfare Department (SWD) in cases that required immediate social work intervention.

There were also various training programmes provided during the year to enhance the professional knowledge of police officers and SWD officers investigating child abuse cases. A seminar was organised for government counsel on how to handle vulnerable witnesses in court. The SWD commissioned the University of Hong Kong Training Institute to organise a training package to promote sensitivity and basic understanding of family violence with special focus on child abuse, spouse battering and abuse of the elderly for around 2 400 frontline professionals. The Police contributed to the training programme on police handling procedures and the role the Police play in the multi-disciplinary approach.

In 2005, there were 1 274 domestic violence cases, representing an increase of 41.1 per cent compared to 2004. The increase is believed to be the result of enhauced awaveness of domestic violence due to the Government's publicity and education campaigns and an increase in the confidence of victims to seek assistance. In order to provide a high quality response in the intervention process and to facilitate further collaboration across different departments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), a centralised and informative domestic violence database was