Building up partnership with the community is the most effective way to achieve Police’s vision of maintaining Hong Kong as one of the safest and most stable societies in the world.

     The remark was made by the Police Director of Operations, Mr Lau Yip-shing, today (July 27) at a press conference to review the crime situation in Hong Kong in the first half of 2016.

     Police use web-based platforms and social media to enhance communication with different local communities and disseminate crime prevention messages. The “Hong Kong Police (HKP) Mobile Application” and the “HKP YouTube” have recorded over 144,000 downloads and attracted over six millions views respectively. “HKP Mobile Application” launched a “Push” function in May this year. The function had been used during a number of major police operations earlier to disseminate timely police messages to the public.

     The “HKP Facebook” was launched in October 2015 to provide the Force with an interactive interface to communicate with the public. In the first half of this year, over 300 posts were uploaded and over 81,000 “Likes” were recorded.

     “Police will continue to strengthen communication with the community through the effective use of web-based platforms and social media. Regular review will be conducted for optimising the effectiveness of the Force’s social media platforms,” said Mr Lau.

     Media is an important platform to Police in engaging the community. Police have always accorded priority to provide timely and accurate information to the media. The Force Media Liaison Cadre (FMLC) was formally established in December last year. It plays a mediating role between the Police and the media in police operations and provides media liaison support. The Cadre has 150 members.

     Road safety remains as one of the Commissioner’s Operational Priorities. Police adopt a multi-agency approach, through road engineering, public engagement and effective enforcement, to enhance road safety.   

     Police have developed the 2016 Selected Traffic Enforcement Priorities. Territory-wide operations against the selected offences will be conducted.

     There were 7,905 cases of traffic accident in the first half of this year, representing a decrease of 23 cases as compared with the same period last year. The number of fatal traffic incidents decreased by five to 51 cases. Fifty-three people were killed in traffic accidents and 37 of them were pedestrians. Out of the 37 deceased, 18 were elderly pedestrians, a decrease of five people as compared with the same period last year.

     Apart from the carelessness of pedestrians, driving inattentively is also one of the contributing factors of traffic accidents. There were 2,166 cases of traffic accidents involving driving inattentively in the first half of 2016, sharing 27 per cent of total traffic accident cases, being an increase of 247 cases over the corresponding period of last year.   

     “All road users should drive attentively and obey traffic rules so as to ensure the safety of oneself and others,” Mr Lau said.

     Regarding public events, Mr Lau said Police have handled 5,602 public events in the first half of 2016, representing an increase of 2,371 cases or 73 per cent over the same period of last year.

     Police always respect the public’s right to peaceful assembly and procession. It is the policy of the Force to facilitate all lawful and peaceful public events.

     “Most of the public events were held in a peaceful and orderly manner. However, there were some who were not cooperative and failed to notify Police prior to their intended public events in accordance with the laws. There were also some who used violent means to express their views or opinions. Such has significantly added difficulties to Police manpower deployment in maintaining order and facilitating public events,” Mr Lau stressed.

     “I appeal to the citizens holding whatever views to observe the laws when taking part in public events so as to ensure public safety and public order. Any person who plans to organise a public meeting or procession shall comply with the Public Order Ordinance, and shall give notice to the Commissioner of Police. By giving prior notice, Police can effectively deploy manpower and make better arrangement to facilitate members of the public in taking part in these public events.

     “Police will continue to be professional in the execution of duty. Resolute enforcement actions will be taken against any illegal acts to maintain Hong Kong as one of the safest and most stable cities in the world,” he concluded.
     

Ends/Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Issued at HKT 20:38

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