While investigating a case of "preventing lawful burial of a body", officers of Kowloon West Regional Crime Unit (RCU KW) learned that the body of a six-month-old baby girl had been dumped in a rubbish bin in a building and the rubbish was later transported to the South East New Territories Landfill . In a bid to find exhibits, the officers teamed up with the Key Points and Search (KPS) Team and Kowloon West Police Tactical Unit (PTU) in mounting a search operation at the landfill from December 5 to 14.

 

 

The officers learned from the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and the landfill contractor that they had to cover an area as big as a football pitch and deal with 8,000 tonnes of rubbish. Then the KPS Team, RCU KW and EPD thrashed out an action plan to ensure that officers would carry out their task safely and systematically.

 

 

An important part of the action plan was to reduce the risk of the search operation. Besides repulsive odours at the landfill, officers would face different potential risks, including poisonous gases, medical wastes and sharp objects. Therefore, they were provided with Category III Chemical Protective Clothing comprising safety helmets, goggles, protective clothes, boots and gloves. The KPS Team also provided different tools and introduced a new filtering mask, which protected officers from inhaling toxic gases and filtered obnoxious odours, enabling the officers to work efficiently in a hostile environment.

 

A KW PTU officer, Police Constable (PC) Ma Yee-man participated in the search operation for the first time. Before the operation started, she asked her colleagues for advice and was psychologically prepared for working in a hostile environment. "But when we were at the scene, feelings were not so bad. The equipment provided greatly reduced the discomfort of the search operation and helped us work efficiently," she noted.

 

Another PTU officer, PC Tong Ka-kit commented: "The protective gear made us feel safe and so we were able to concentrate on the job."

 

KPS Chief Inspector (CIP) Mak Bo-yin pointed out that EPD offered full support for the search operation by mobilising manpower and equipment. Searching was divided into three steps to systemically classify wastes for officers to sift through. Firstly, bulldozers separated construction wastes from household wastes, which were transported to eight search zones, where bulldozers spread out the wastes for PTU officers to look for exhibits with shovels and other tools. This procedure reduced the chance of officers coming into contact with toxic gases and sharp objects.

 

As regard manpower, in each search zones, six to eight officers dealt with 24 to 32 tonnes of wastes in 15 to 20 minutes. At the same time, a water tanker sprayed the zone every 30 minutes to reduce dusts and dispel odours. Searching was conducted in morning and afternoon shifts, each lasting four hours in order to stave off mishaps arising from working for a long time in a very unpleasant environment.

 

KPS Sergeant Ng Hoi-hung, who had taken part in similar operations and assisted in working out the action plan, believes that the improved search equipment and procedures were conducive to work efficiency. "The job of the KPS is to back up frontline officers. We are delighted that we had provided them with workable procedures and good equipment," he said.

 

 

When PTU officers flung into action at the search zones, RCU KW officers stood by at the scene for follow-up action and KPS officers offered professional advice where necessary. Among the wastes, the officers looked for anything connected with the case, such as letters with addresses in the area of the case and newspapers of the day of the case. "The search operation was quite an experience and a good opportunity for learning. But there were feelings of sorrow as the goal was to recover the body of the baby," said PC Tong. Fortunately, officers were in high morale in finding exhibits and the truth of the case.

 

 

Though the nine-day search operation yielded nothing substantial, officers had done their best. Said PC Tong: "We felt an affinity with the baby because we took over the case when it was reported to have been abducted. We were involved in the case from day one to the search at the landfill."

 

Said PC Ma: "Before and after the search operation, supervisors gave a lot of encouragement and there were a lot of sharing among colleagues. These helped ease stress and unpleasant feeling."

 

CIP Mak pointed out that the KPS Team was always prepared to support frontline officers and offer professional advice for different types of searching. The search operation has demonstrated officers' perseverance and hard work as well as their esprit de corps and professionalism.