As the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the inauguration ceremony of the fifth term of the HKSAR Government will take place on July 1, it is expected that a series of celebration activities and public events will be held in June and July. The Force has adopted a Three-tier Planning Structure to co-ordinate the policing work of these events.

Government Steering Committee (GSC)

In early 2016, the HKSAR Government has established an inter-departmental Steering Committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary for Administration to plan for the 20th anniversary celebration activities. Commissioner Lo Wai-chung is one of the members of the GSC.

Under the GSC, three task forces have been formed to hold responsible for publicity matters, community involvement and promotion outside Hong Kong. In addition, the Celebrations Coordination Office has been set up under the Home Affairs Bureau in January to co-ordinate celebration activities.

In line with the Commissioner's Operational Priorities to ensure that the events hosted in connection with the 20th anniversary will be held in a safe, orderly and secure manner, the Force has adopted a Three-tier Planning Structure, making reference to previous operations of a similar nature.

Under the Force's Three-tier Planning Structure, the Force Steering Committee (FSC) has already held three meetings to formulate the related policing strategies. Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Lau Yip-shing, who is the Chairman of the FSC, urged officers to be prepared for the intensive work for policing the 20th anniversary events, given the anticipated challenges ahead.

In a bid to ensure that officers are well equipped for the 20th anniversary operations, a series of training and exercises will be conducted in May and June, and a Force-level operational briefing will be arranged in June. Furthermore, a designated web page will be launched on POINT to keep Force members informed of the progress of the preparatory work for the operations.

Force's Three-tier Planning Structure

The first tier is the FSC, with Major Formation Commanders as members. It is responsible for drawing up the Force's policing strategies and overseeing the progress of the Force's preparatory work for the 20th anniversary operations.

The second tier is the Police Headquarters Planning and Coordination Team (PPCT), led by Assistant Commissioner (Operations) Cheng Yiu-mo, for formulating policing plans and the relevant arrangements in accordance with the strategies endorsed by the FSC. The members of the PPCT include all Regional Response Contingent Commanders, Senior Superintendents (Operations) (SSP OPS) of all Regions, SSP (Staff Relations), chairpersons of seven Working Groups and Venue Commanders.

The dual components of the third tier are the seven Working Groups and Venue Commanders as appointed by the FSC for major events. The seven Working Groups, each headed by an SSP, will provide functional support to the 20th anniversary operations in the areas of "catering and logistics", "crime support", "human resources", "information and communications technology", "public and media relations", "tactics and training" and "traffic management and transport", while the Venue Commanders will be responsible for the formulation and execution of operational plans about their respective commanding sites.

In addition to the Three-tier Planning Structure, the Event Planning Team (EPT) of the OPS Wing provides administrative support to the FSC and PPCT. The EPT is also a centralised point-of-contact with both internal and external stakeholders to co-ordinate matters pertaining to the policing work of 20th anniversary events.