Description
World War I broke out in 1914. Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August of the same year. The British in Hong Kong returned to Britain one after another to prepare for the war in Europe. Many of them were members of the Force, which resulted in a huge reduction in manpower.
Sir Francis Henry May, the then Governor of Hong Kong, appealed for volunteers to support the Force. On 23 October 1914, legislation was passed to establish the Hong Kong Special Police Reserve, one of the first auxiliary police forces in the world. The Hong Kong Special Police Reserve was renamed the Hong Kong Police Reserve on 14 September 1917 and was disbanded at the end of the war.
In 1925, or six years later, the disbanded Police Reserve regained the Government’s attention. It was called upon to support the regular Force to cope with the Canton-Hong Kong strike. The Police Reserve was formally and permanently established in 1927 under the Hong Kong Police Reserve Ordinance. In the 1950s, the Police Reserve played an important role in maintaining law and order in Hong Kong during the Kowloon Tsai squatter fire in 1954 and the Double Tenth riots in 1956. Several major events revealed that the duties of the Police Reserve and the Special Constabulary were becoming analogous. Therefore, these two forces were amalgamated into the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force in 1959. The first cohort of female auxiliary police members was recruited in 1965. The Auxiliary Police Force members no longer wear an armband, but an “A” (abbreviation of “Auxiliary”) is placed before the identification number on each member’s shoulder for identification purposes. The current Auxiliary Police Force was established under the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force Ordinance.
