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Operations Wing and Information Systems Wing will start a pilot run of the mobile application “Beat App” on May 5, 2021, involving 200 officers of Regional Emergency Units and selected District Traffic Teams. The application will be formally launched by the end of May, involving a total of 1 200 officers of all Regional Emergency Units and five selected District Traffic Teams (including Tai Po District, Wong Tai Sin District, Tsuen Wan District, Mong Kok District and Eastern District). The second phase will be launched in August 2021 and the use of the application will be extended to another 1 600 officers in all Police Tactical Units, selected Patrol Sub-units (including Wong Tai Sin District, Tsuen Wan District, Mong Kok District, Tai Po Division, Chai Wan Division) and Marine West Division.
The application enables officers to conduct various record checks on persons, vehicles and vessels. Officers can check Hong Kong identity cards and passports using the Optical Character Recognition technology, or check Exit-Entry Permits for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao with the QR Code. For other identification documents, officers can also conduct checks by handwriting and voice input. The application also performs a function of recording database enquiries where officers can view the details within 24 hours in the Activity Log. The application can only be used in smart phones issued by the Force, and it will only read the card face data. It is unable to read the data contained in the chip of the identification documents, take or store any photographs of the documents.
The application digitalises the traditional stop-and-search duties. It can streamline the enquiry process, enhance operational efficiency and safety as well as shorten citizens’ waiting time. It also alleviates the workload of Regional Command and Control Centres so that more resources could be deployed for emergency services.
Four Force-wide train-the-trainer workshops for the application were held in March. After completing the training, a total of 140 officers have become trainers for their respective Formations. Training materials are available on the webpage of the Fourth Generation Command and Control Communications System (CC4) Project on Police Intranet (POINT) for officers’ reference.
