Гонконг полициясы: тарихы мен қазіргі жағдайы

Law enforcement agency of Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. Pursuant to the one country, two systems principle, the HKPF is officially independent of the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China, which under usual circumstances may not interfere with Hong Kong’s local law enforcement matters. All HKPF officers are employed as civil servants and therefore required to pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Basic Law. The HKPF consists of approximately 34,000 officers, including the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force, civil servants, and its Marine Region (3,000 officers and 143 vessels as of 2009).

A police force has been serving Hong Kong since shortly after the island was established as a colony in 1841. On 30 April 1841, 12 weeks after the British landed in Hong Kong, Captain Charles Elliot established a policing authority in the new colony, empowering Captain William Caine to enforce Qing law in respect of local inhabitants and "British Police Law" for "non natives". By October 1842, an organised police force (still under the direction of Caine who was also Chief Magistrate) was routinely bringing criminals before the courts for trial. During World War II, Japan occupied Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Police Force was temporarily disbanded. The 1950s saw the commencement of Hong Kong's 40 year rise to global prominence, during which time the Hong Kong Police tackled many issues that have challenged Hong Kong's stability. Between 1949 and 1989, Hong Kong experienced several huge waves of immigration from mainland China, most notably 1958–62. In the 1970s and 1980s, large numbers of Vietnamese boat people arrived in Hong Kong, posing challenges first for marine police, secondly for officers who manned the dozens of camps in the territory and lastly for those who had to repatriate them. The force was granted the use of the title ‘royal’ in 1969 for its handling of the Hong Kong 1967 riots — renaming it the Royal Hong Kong Police Force. In 1974, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was created to give government wide ranging powers to investigate corruption. At the turn of the 1980s, the Hong Kong Police Force began marketing itself as "Asia's Finest". The recruitment of Europeans to the force ceased in 1994, and in 1995 the Royal Hong Kong Police took responsibility for patrolling the boundary with China. Prior to 1995, the British Army had operated the border patrol. The force played a prominent role in the process of the handover of sovereignty in 1997 and continues to perform ceremonial flag raising on each anniversary. With the handover of sovereignty, the police force dropped the prefix "Royal" from its name. In the 2010s, the police force played a prominent role in relation to the 2014 Hong Kong protests and 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. Following Chris Tang's appointment as the Commissioner of Police in November 2019, the police force changed its motto from "We serve with pride and care", which had been used for more than 20 years, to "Serving Hong Kong with honour, duty and loyalty." The Economist suggested that this change would curry favour with the central government of China. In July 2022, as part of a process to remove colonial aspects from the force, foot drills changed from British style to Chinese People's Liberation Army style with a goose step. The language spoken during drills changed from English to Chinese, and junior officers stopped addressing higher ranking officers with "Yes Sir".

During the 1940s, the HKPF faced a number of corruption scandals involving officers. During the 1950s and 1960s, the force struggled with corruption issues relating to bribes from syndicated drugs and illegal gambling operations. Police corruption again emerged as a major concern in the early 1970s when the Commissioner ordered investigations to break the culture of corruption, causing forty odd officers to flee Hong Kong with more than HK$80 million cash (about HK$2 million each). More recently, the Hong Kong Police Force has faced extensive allegations of misconduct during the 2019 protests including excessive force, brutality, torture, and falsified evidence. In particular, the police were criticised for their failure to respond during the mob attack at the Yuen Long MTR station in July 2019. Several lawsuits were filed in October 2019 against the HKPF for failure to show identification during protests. In May 2023, the HKPF recommended that schools install CCTV cameras in school classrooms to enhance security. From 2019 to 2022, 24 to 42 police officers were arrested per year.

The Commissioner of Police serves as the commander of the HKPF and reports directly to the Secretary for Security. The HKPF is divided into six primary departments: Operations & Support, Crime & Security, Personnel & Training, Management Services, Finance, Administration & Planning, and National Security.

The Special Branch was established by the British Colonial Government of Hong Kong in 1934 originally as an anti communist squad under MI5 with assistance from MI6. The branch later joined the Crime Department of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in 1946 and focussed on preventing pro KMT rightists and pro CCP leftists from infiltrating the colony.

Police officers enjoy remuneration far exceeding median incomes in the Special Administrative Region (HK$18,000 per month in 2019), the base rate for newly recruited police constables with minimal high school education being HK$24,110 per month and that for high school matriculants being HK$42,655. In addition, all officers enjoy extensive housing benefits, free medical and dental benefits (including coverage of family members), with substantial vacation, sick and maternity leave allowances exceeding statutory minimums.

In addition, officers and their families enjoy substantial fringe benefits through the statutorily entrenched Police Welfare Fund which has current assets exceeding HK$200 million. Attracting funds in excess of HK$50 million per annum, almost entirely donations, the fund trustee, the Commissioner of Police, has unfettered freedom to choose how the funds are to be expended. The Commissioner disburses the bulk of its annual expenditure in the form of cash grants to police officers and their families. as did a 2017 donation of HK$15 million, that fringe benefits may be inadequate.

Two trust funds established by statute in 1967 augment the benefits enjoyed by members of the force. The Police Children's Education Trust and Police Education & Welfare Trust disburse funds by way of scholarships, bursaries and grants for education expenses and to assist officers with needy children or in financial difficulty. These funds were also the recipients of HK$10 million in 2017 from an undisclosed donor. The four serving officers' associations wield significant power, controlling half of the voting rights on the Police Force Council. Government consultations with Police Force staff are formally conducted through the council and the associations figure prominently at times of controversy.

The current Hong Kong Police uniform was implemented in 2005. Most front line officers wear a light blue shirt and dark blue cargo trousers, while senior officers wear a white shirt. A long sleeved shirt is worn with a black necktie, while a short sleeved shirt can be worn with an open collar in warm weather. A waist length dark blue windbreaker can also be worn over the shirt in cooler temperatures. Male officers typically wear a black peaked cap while female officers wear a black bowler hat with a red stripe. Dark blue baseball caps may also be worn. Specialized unites wear either dark blue baseball caps or navy blue berets. HKPF officers do not wear a badge, but instead carry a warrant card for identification. The uniform also does not include shoulder patches. Instead, a silver HKPF emblem is displayed on the headgear. The only patch on the uniform reads “Police” in English and Chinese, and is sewn above the left breast pocket of the shirt. Navy blue epaulettes worn on all uniform shirts and jackets show the officer's rank insignia (if any) and unique identification number.

Beat officers wear a utility belt which holds a sidearm (Smith & Wesson Model 10 .38 revolver) in a holster, extra ammunition (including speed loaders), handcuffs, a telescoping baton, a can of pepper spray, and a Motorola radio with a connected remote speaker microphone attached to the shoulder. Officers are occasionally equipped with a body mounted camera, and electric Tasers are currently being considered. Bullet resistant vests are not regularly worn. Criminal Investigations detectives and specialized units are equipped with a wide variety of gear suited for their missions, including less lethal weapons and a range of firearms from European and American manufacturers, such as Smith & Wesson, Glock, Heckler & Koch, Remington, and SIG Sauer. In 2020, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, placed restrictions on the sale of police and military equipment to Hong Kong following the passing of the National Security Law. As a consequence, the HKPF — who are seeking to replace its decades old Model 10 revolvers and MP5 sub machine guns — are searching for suppliers elsewhere. In testing of MP5 replacements, the HKPF has expressed disappointment with the reliability of firearms from China and the ergonomics of those from Russia.

Most police vehicles in Hong Kong are white, with a blue and red 3M retroreflective stripe around on the sides of the vehicle with wording "警 POLICE 察" in white, the only exception being the armoured personnel carriers specially designed for the Police Tactical Unit, which are wholly dark blue and with wording "警 POLICE 察" on a light blue background in white on the sides of the vehicle. Most police vehicles in Hong Kong are equipped with both red and blue emergency vehicle lighting. The vehicles which are assigned to airport duties have additional yellow emergency vehicle lighting and yellow rooftops required for all airport vehicles. All police vehicles are government property and so bear license plates starting with "AM". Since 2008, the Hong Kong Police Force have brought in the use of Battenburg markings for new police vehicles of the Traffic Branch for better visibility on the roads. In addition, these new vehicles show the Force crest on the front part of the vehicle, which the Force has not used in the design of new vehicles for the last two decades. The Hong Kong Police Force has ordered 10 new electric scooters for their officers to help reduce pollution in central Hong Kong. Emergency Unit, Police Tactical Unit, and Traffic Police have identification markings on the back of the car. For example, PTUD 1/3 means PTU D Team 1st Team 3rd car; EUKW 23 means Emergency Unit, Kowloon West region, 23rd car; and TKW 2 means Traffic unit, Kowloon West region, second car. Until 2007, EU, PTU, and TP vehicles had identification markings in a slightly different format. For example, “1/3 PTUD”, “23 EUKW”, and “2 TKW”.

The Hong Kong Police Force and its previous incarnation have been the subject of many films and television shows, including the locally produced Police Story film series, The Criminal Investigator, Infernal Affairs film series, Cold War, and OCTB. English language films featuring the HKPF include Rush Hour and Skyscraper. The Hong Kong Police Force and Special Duties Unit have also appeared in popular video game series such as Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege and Sleeping Dogs.