The Regions devote themselves to upholding the rule of law, maintaining law and order, and serving Hong Kong with honour, duty and loyalty. They fight crime in ways that often involve engagement with different sectors of the community or multi-agency partnerships. Publicity and educational activities are held to enhance public awareness of crime prevention and road safety. In 2022, the Regions continued to support the Government to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hong Kong Island Region
During the year, Hong Kong Island Region conducted anti-crime campaigns by redeploying resources strategically and co-ordinating actively with various police units and local community bodies. As a result, traditional crimes declined significantly, with the number of robberies, burglaries and violent crimes decreasing by 71.4%, 54.9% and 15.5% respectively.
However, due to a surge in deception cases, the overall crime rate on Hong Kong Island was higher than last year. In response, the Region strengthened intelligence gathering and cyber patrols, and proactively engaged with the public and stakeholders through multi-pronged publicity efforts to raise awareness of deception and technological crimes.
The Region also actively engaged with the community for effective policing through the Junior Police Call (JPC), Senior Police Call (SPC), Road Safety Patrol and various social media to strengthen partnership with all sectors of the community and develop a greater understanding and support of police work.
Project GLOW, co-organised by the Western Police District and Western District JPC, encourages teenagers to develop positive living, remain optimistic in the face of adversity, and understand the importance of ecological conservation by rearing fireflies at home and in school. |
Western Police District took the lead in the Force and created the first account on social media platform Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) in May, employing an interactive way of disseminating crime prevention messages and other useful information to Mainland university students in Hong Kong. |
A publicity event against drink-driving was jointly held by Traffic Hong Kong Island, Central Police District, Hong Kong Road Safety Patrol and Central & Western District Road Safety Campaign Committee on the eve of Halloween in Central, where a huge banner hung in Lan Kwai Fong reminded people not to drive after drinking alcohol. |
Project GLOW, co-organised by the Western Police District and Western District JPC, encourages teenagers to develop positive living, remain optimistic in the face of adversity, and understand the importance of ecological conservation by rearing fireflies at home and in school.
Western Police District took the lead in the Force and created the first account on social media platform Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) in May, employing an interactive way of disseminating crime prevention messages and other useful information to Mainland university students in Hong Kong.
A publicity event against drink-driving was jointly held by Traffic Hong Kong Island, Central Police District, Hong Kong Road Safety Patrol and Central & Western District Road Safety Campaign Committee on the eve of Halloween in Central, where a huge banner hung in Lan Kwai Fong reminded people not to drive after drinking alcohol.
Marine Region
The Marine Police maintain the integrity of the HKSAR's 191 kilometre sea boundary and guard the 1,641 square kilometres of water and 261 islands under their purview.
Marine Region operates modern craft to enforce the law in Hong Kong waters.
In 2022, proactive enforcement led to 76.9% fewer arrests of illegal immigrants at sea and 79.6% fewer seizures of smugglers' goods. These decreases were mainly due to the Mainland authorities exercising stringent boundary controls because of COVID-19. To safeguard national security and maintain law enforcement at sea, the Region procures modern craft with advanced technology that will help officers embrace challenges and move with the times.
The year 2022 marked the 180th anniversary of the Marine Police. Celebratory activities were organised that also served to enhance community engagement and crime prevention. In other initiatives, the Marine Society for schoolchildren and the Sea Safety Ambassador Scheme were introduced to promote sea safety. The Marine Guru Programme was set up with a maritime uniformed youth group to impart knowledge of sea safety and professional seamanship, at the same time helping youngsters develop a sense of national identity through close bonding with police officers. Face-to-face engagement activities, such as leaflet distributions and interdepartmental sea safety days, took place throughout the year and received overwhelming community support.
Cub Scouts from the Hong Kong Scout Association visited the Marine Police Training School.
The Marine Police Dragon Boat team held a Dragon Boat Cross Harbour Charity Parade in November, in which it invited other teams to paddle dragon boats together from Kowloon Public Pier to the Marine Headquarters in Sai Wan Ho. The event symbolised Marine Region's partnership with the community in safeguarding Hong Kong waters.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Region continued to support island communities actively by transferring people who needed medical attention and enforcing quarantine measures.
Kowloon East Region
Overall crime in Kowloon East Region rose 20.7% year on year. The downward trend in robberies, burglaries, wounding and serious assault, criminal damage and drug-related crimes continued, but the number of deception cases rose significantly, accounting for more than 40% of total crimes in 2022.
In response, Crime Kowloon East launched a series of strategically co-ordinated operations targeting syndicates behind the most prevalent forms of deception, such as e-shopping, employment, telephone and phishing fraud. To maximise the publicity impact, experts from the Department of Health, the Police's Psychological Services Group and Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management were invited to explain clearly to the public how such scams were perpetrated. A social media chat group of more than 2,500 students was also formed as a one-stop interactive platform that provided both generic and personalised anti-crime messages and assistance to non-local students who were new to Hong Kong and were vulnerable to tricksters impersonating official representatives of various organisations.
The safety of road users and vulnerable groups was a major focus in 2022. Traffic Kowloon East collaborated closely with the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association to broadcast road safety messages to the elderly via its Care-On-Call Service. The Regional Missing Persons Unit also launched Project PINPOINT and Project HILL PAL jointly with stakeholders to promote the use of geo-positioning to locate missing people with dementia and hikers who get into difficulties while in remote areas.
Officers found a missing person by using a geo-positioning device under Project PINPOINT.
The Region aims to maintain its readiness and capability to safeguard public safety at all levels. In December, Operations Kowloon East held a major-incident exercise before the commissioning of the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel, to test the ability of the Police, other government departments and external agencies to respond effectively to a multiple-casualty traffic accident. Separately, Railway District conducted interdepartmental counter-terrorism exercises simulating chemical and radiological attacks and hostage-taking, to foster partnership and assess the capabilities of key stakeholders in safeguarding Hong Kong's railway system.
A joint exercise of Traffic Kowloon East, the Fire Services Department and Hong Kong St. John Ambulance practised rescuing a trapped driver inside the new Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel.
The community lies at the heart of Kowloon East Region's communication and policing philosophy. A broad range of community-centric activities were held during the year with the principal objectives of nurturing positivity, fostering a sense of national identity and promoting obedience to the law as the cornerstones of a healthy society. With these objectives in mind, the Region launched Project VALUE in collaboration with community stakeholders. Innovative and diverse ideas were put into practice to encourage youngsters' participation in activities such as visits to the Greater Bay Area, workshops about abiding by the law, and training camps on leadership and challenging oneself. Project VALUE also plans to adopt innovative technology to hold crime prevention seminars in the Metaverse for the first time. Young people can learn on the Internet how to prevent crime through role-playing in the Metaverse, and make use of the Metaverse to share their experiences across multiple geographical regions.
Kowloon West Region
The overall crime rate in Kowloon West Region increased slightly in 2022, mainly brought about by a substantial rise in the number of deception cases, while burglary, robbery, snatching and pickpocketing cases recorded significant decreases ranging from 28.2% to 48.4%.
Project VANGUARD was expanded to retail operators, jewellery shops and banks to strengthen the Force's intelligence and communication networks. Anti-deception opera shows and crime prevention publicity events were held for the elderly and Mainland students respectively. Two initiatives to protect youths at risk, conducted under Project NEVEREVER and the Kowloon West Youth Care Committee, continued offering community visits and support.
To raise operational readiness for major incidents, a joint departmental exercise with the Fire Services Department and Leisure and Cultural Services Department was held at the Hong Kong Coliseum in June. Officers simulated an attack during a concert that resulted in a significant number of casualties and required the activation of on-site decontamination equipment.
Traffic Kowloon West provided more than 11,000 students with over 120 talks on road safety. It also held a 'Road Safety Award Presentation Ceremony cum Cantonese Opera Concert' to promote road safety awareness among the elderly in December.
As the city recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Harbour Race and Hong Kong Cyclothon resumed in October and December alongside other large-scale festive events. Streets in Yau Tsim District were once again closed for the public to take in the festive atmosphere on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. All these happenings necessitated the mobilisation of police officers to ensure public order.
The Old Yau Ma Tei Police Station, now a listed Grade 2 historical building, marked the 100th anniversary of its establishment. The Force held four open days in August, giving more than 4,000 visitors the chance to admire the Edwardian architecture of the station and view an interactive exhibition about the Force's heritage and work.
With the opening of the Hong Kong Palace Museum in June, the Police also worked regularly with the museum curator and other stakeholders to ensure the security of national treasures.
Mong Kok District JPC co-organised free online English courses with a non-profit group, "A 'Share & Learn' Crescent", for 4,400 students of grassroot families. The platform aimed to improve the students' English proficiency and awareness of being law-abiding, while serving as an additional channel to promote the JPC and recruit members.
Sham Shui Po District was mobilised in multiple restriction-testing declaration operations, which involved many grassroots families, elderly residents and ethnic minorities. The District arranged ethnic minority officers to facilitate communication and convey timely information to residents, eventually overcoming all pandemic-related challenges. In addition, the District conducted several operations with other government departments to crack down on an unlicensed barbecue site at Kau Wah Keng, and later received positive feedback from the public.
The Kowloon City District launched Project SEED for secondary school students in November, co-organised with the non-profit Building Healthy Kowloon City Association Limited. The project aims to encourage students to join the Force. Around 100 students of five secondary schools and 45 students from the Hong Kong Institute of Technology reading police-related subjects participated under the guidance of 25 officers of the District, who served as Senior Members of the project to facilitate the activities.
Project SEED reaches out to secondary school students to join the Force.
New Territories South Region
In 2022, New Territories South Region recorded a 4.5% increase in the number of reported crimes, attributed mainly to deception cases, which climbed 38.7% compared with 2021 and accounted for 43.9% of all crimes in the Region. The crime detection rate was 33.7%. Significant reductions were seen in pickpocketing (down 53.1%), burglaries (down 36.7%), shop theft (down 24.4%) and wounding and serious assault (down 20.9%).
The Region promoted anti-deception messages among the community by publishing a quarterly bulletin, Scam Brief • End Scams, through the Regional Crime Prevention Office. The bulletin shared the latest modus operandi and information about scams, to boost public awareness of the need to stop fraud.
The Scam Brief • End Scams bulletin is given out at public transport interchanges.
Kwai Tsing District adopted a community-based multi-agency approach as it continued to work on Project TI-FANG, which enhanced collaboration between the Force, Housing Department, Housing Society, security companies and personnel overseeing public housing estates to combat illegal debt collection activities. A two-way instant mobile communication platform under the scheme was set up with more than 170 stakeholders and disseminated anti-deception messages using community resources.
It is the Region's priority to gain trust and support from the community, establish ties with youths and enhance mutual understanding and communication. During the year, the Region worked on greater community engagement. Sha Tin District, buoyed by the success of Project SLASH in 2021, expanded it by joining hands with five major disciplinary forces to hold experiential learning activities, attracting more than 100 students from the participating schools. The District also collaborated with outstanding sportspeople to promote anti-crime messages, including by producing anti-deception videos starring sports celebrities.
The Region extends care and support to the community, especially the elderly. Its Operations Bureau actively promotes Project L-HOMECOMING to different sectors of the community, including security and property management personnel, to appeal for their support in locating missing elderly residents who have dementia. The project is being developed with the Police's Information Systems Wing, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing to incorporate LoRa technology, which combined with Bluetooth tracking devices, could obtain more accurate location information and strengthen the ability to find missing people. In future, the project will be extended to other types of missing persons at risk so as to save the lives of more vulnerable target groups, such as people with schizophrenia, autism or Down syndrome. To further engage with the elderly within the Region, the Road Safety Office appointed senior residents as Elderly Road Safety Ambassadors, with a view to achieving 'Zero Accidents on the Road, Hong Kong's Goal'.
In 2022, the Region demonstrated professionalism and determination in countering terrorism and policing major events. Airport District conducted joint security sweeping operations with other police units, Airport Authority Hong Kong and Aviation Security Company Limited at the third runway, to ensure the security integrity of the third runway before it went into full operation. The Region also conducted Exercise YELLOWFORTRESS to raise operational readiness for major incidents and to enhance interoperability and response capabilities among police units and other government departments.
To support the fight against COVID-19, Lantau District co-operated with other government departments and the private sector to ensure the orderly opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Community Isolation Facility in March and the smooth running of the Penny's Bay Community Isolation Facility. The District also helped the Registration and Electoral Office set up a polling station at the Penny's Bay facility to cater for Election Committee members and electors who were following isolation or quarantine measures to cast their votes during the Chief Executive Election in May and the Legislative Council Election Committee Constituency By-election in December.
New Territories North Region
New Territories North Region recorded a slight increase of 12% in the overall crime rate in 2022, mainly led by a significant surge of 49.5% in deception cases. On the other hand, burglary numbers fell 58.4% following a series of crime prevention initiatives and enforcement actions.
The Region launched a number of high-profile campaigns and operations to fight crime and ensure a safe and stable environment in New Territories North. Different communities and age groups were engaged to share in the ownership of policing issues. At a regional level, the Regional Crime Prevention Office of New Territories North Headquarters initiated Project MULTIVERSE. Innovative online approaches were adopted, such as opening an Instagram account in August to attract young people to browse information on the latest scams, and using WeChat to disseminate crime prevention material to Mainland students in Hong Kong. The project also reached out offline by setting up publicity booths on university campuses and organising an Anti-deception Camp at the JPC Pat Heung Centre to raise awareness of fraud.
Border District JPC members visited a Chinese enterprise operating in Hong Kong.
At the district level, Tuen Mun District produced a series of short videos entitled Pui To 100 to promote positive values and messages, such as crime prevention and awareness of abiding by the law, to schools and youths via social media and other communication platforms.
A total of 46 primary school students in Tai Po District were recruited as Little Grape Ambassadors to participate in anti-deception promotional activities. Young police inspectors were appointed as Student Engagement Ambassadors in Yuen Long District to bridge the generation gap and build up the positive image of the Force. The Border District JPC has always played an essential role in anti-crime programmes, and extended these efforts to cities of the Greater Bay Area under Project PIONEER during the year.
A programme known as 'Tai Po District Little Grape Ambassadors' was established through the support of primary schools and Federation of Parent-Teacher Associations to raise awareness of fraud prevention.
In terms of operational policing, Project SMART was launched to cater specifically for the elderly and has enhanced the Region's capabilities and effectiveness in locating missing people by making use of technology and community resources. Another project, codenamed SHADOWCATCHER, reinforces the Region's determination to combat illegal road racing through the adoption of a holistic approach and new strategies, which have resulted in a greater deterrence effect being observed. A multi-agency exercise, QUICKSKILL, was held to ensure readiness and effective co-operation among police units and government departments when handling major incidents.
Major infrastructural plans in the northern part of Hong Kong, such as the Northern Metropolis Development Strategies and Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point, will definitely bring new policing challenges to the Region in the coming years. The Region will continue to discharge its duties hand in hand with the community and prepare officers to meet emerging challenges ahead.