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The Complaints Against Police Office (CAPO) and the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) endeavour to ensure fairness and impartiality in the handling of every complaint and the IPCC Observers’ participation in the process has been instrumental. The 120 IPCC Observers were appointed by the Secretary for Security from various sectors of the community. They are responsible for observing CAPO’s interviews and collection of evidence in handling Reportable Complaints and submitting reports to the IPCC detailing their observations.
In Year 2020/2021, the Observers attained a 98.7% attendance rate and conducted a total of 2 198 observations. As the majority of the observers have full-time jobs, they carry out observations in their personal time. They usually receive notification no less than 48 hours before the observations, but at times they have to conduct observations in the small hours or even work for more than 10 hours.
On April 27, the IPCC conducted an Observers Workshop at the Hong Kong Police College, facilitating the Observers’ experience sharing and the dissemination of the latest information on the IPCC and CAPO. At the workshop, the Observers expressed their gratitude and appreciation towards CAPO’s professionalism while CAPO officers updated the Observers on the follow-up actions in response to the 52 recommendations made by the IPCC in its “Thematic Study Report on the Public Order Events arising from the Fugitive Offenders Bill since June 2019 and the Police Actions in Response”. On the same occasion, Chairman of the IPCC Dr Anthony Francis Neoh presented a Long Service Award to Observer Mr Charles Cheung in recognition of his contribution in the past 10 years. At the end of the workshop, Director of Management Services Lam Hiu-tong thanked the Observers for their selfless devotion to ensuring fairness and impartiality in every complaint case and enhancing the public’s trust in the two-tier police complaints system.
