Recently, new state-of-the-art identification parade suites were designed and built for seven formations in various Districts and Regions.

Known as One-Way Viewer Identification Parade (OWVIDP) suites, they are located at Waterfront, Mong Kok, Wong Tai Sin, Sau Mau Ping and Tuen Mun Police Stations, Kowloon West Regional Headquarters and Kowloon City District Headquarters. There are now a total of 21 Police formations using the OWVIDP suites. The latest additions are fitted out with more advanced and user-friendly equipment to improve the process for the identification of suspects.

Construction of a new OWVIDP room at Aberdeen Police Station is currently being carried out and is expected to be completed next month.

The scheme to build OWVIDP suites started in 1988, and is aimed at encouraging victims and witnesses to come forward and identify suspects without fear of being recognised.

Crime Wing Senior Inspector, Ms Evita Pang, the officer-in-charge of the project, said: "The single button operation of the new recording system allows the OC of identification parade to operate the system by himself without the need for an extra hand.

"Another advantage of the new system is the self-diagnostic testing capability which automatically checks whether the video cassette tape is new, readable, at the start position and correctly inserted in the VCR," Ms Pang said.

Ms Pang added that an evaluation of the latest OWVIDP suites will be carried out at the end of the year to assess whether more formations should use the new equipment.

For further enquiries about the operation of the new OWVIDP suites, please call Ms Pang at 2860-8437.