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 Incorruptible. Police Constables Liu Hon-hung, Lau Wing-lun, Lau Wai-man, and Au Chun-cheong (from back to front) |
DESPITE the basic integrity and honesty of Hong Kong Police officers, the spectre of corruption is always real in a city full of temptations or when personal and financial circumstances change due to unmanageable debts or misplaced "loyalty".
To promote Force values of integrity and honesty an impactful new anti-corruption poster created by a professional designer and launched by Personnel Wing is now being displayed in police stations throughout the territory. At the same time, an aide memoire now appears on the inside front covers of all police notebooks as a constant reminder to officers to remain steadfast in upholding these high values. |
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A succinct, straightforward and frank memo to yourself, the aide memoire prompts officers to watch out for telltale signs of corruption in others such as: colleagues offering free meals, gifts or favours without good reason, associating with unsavoury characters, frequenting places of dubious reputation, living extravagant lifestyles, or gambling heavily. It also lists many pitfalls to avoid in order that officers prevent becoming compromised themselves. For example, a police officer risks becoming corrupt if he or she seeks advantage or favours, does not manage their finances properly, lives extravagantly and beyond their means, gambles heavily, lowers moral standards, associates with people of questionable character, and confuses "cover-up" or "abuse of power" with "loyalty". The message is clear: Corruption in any form must never be tolerated. And as such, police officers should remain vigilant in order to stamp it out by keeping their eyes and ears open; reporting suspicious circumstances to formation commanders or the ICAC; and by ensuring that work procedures are clearly spelt out and have in place a good accountability system with the necessary checks and balances. "Hong Kong is one big 'trap'," says Police Constable Au Chun-cheong of Task Force/Sau Mau Ping, Kowloon East. "It's full of holes just waiting for you to fall into. The temptations are out there, but you must constantly remind yourself that it is a police officer's sworn duty not to be corrupt, and to resist all the temptations." PC Au has experienced these "temptations" first-hand. Most recently while on patrol with his colleague PC Liu Hon-hung when a suspect who admitted after questioning that he was in possession of a stolen MTR "Octopus" card. The man offered PCs Au and Liu $800 to forget about the crime and let him go. Both PCs, who have served in the Force for 10 years, refused to accept the bribe, and arrested him. Says PC Au: "Taking the money would have debased the integrity of the whole Force. That suspect would have then probably gone off to brag to his friends how he had 'bought off' two Hong Kong Police officers. Just the thought of that happening is intolerable to us." Police Constable Lau Wai-man of Special Duty Squad Team 3, Mongkok, agrees that to accept a bribe would not only diminish an officer's sense of self-worth, but would also degrade and tarnish the image and high degree of trust and faith that the community holds for the Hong Kong Police. Twice in his eight-year career PC Lau has been offered cash bribes. Last year while on an anti-illegal immigrant operation with his colleagues at a construction site, an overstayer whose entry papers had expired offered PC Lau $1,000 to let him go. PC Lau refused and arrested the illegal immigrant. Recalls PC Lau: "The worker tried to justify his behaviour by explaining that he didn't think he was doing anything wrong because that's the way things were done in his hometown. I told him: "That's not how things are done in Hong Kong'." In a second instance, PC Lau was again on patrol in Mongkok when a woman he suspected was an illegal immigrant admitted under caution that she had entered Hong Kong illegally, then offered PC Lau $500 if he would let her go. "She told me that all the movies she had seen depicted police officers as being corrupt, so she assumed Hong Kong Police would take bribe money as well," recalls PC Lau Wai-man, who arrested the woman. "But the real point is, when just one officer who lacks integrity and honesty gives in to corruption, that officer taints the image and integrity of the whole Force and gives all officers a bad name." Continued PC Lau Wai-man: "So, I would tell my colleagues not to break the law. You are all police who have sworn an oath to uphold the law. In addition, if you are found guilty of corruption you'll lose your job and risk the chance of ending up in prison like a common criminal." Emphasised Police Constable Liu Hon-hung: "You lose absolutely everything -your job, your career, everything." Corruption can also come from within, and if discovered needs to be reported immediately, says Police Constable Au. "If I advanced in rank by giving somebody money to promote me, I would never feel at ease in that rank or that I was really qualified because I would have gotten it falsely - by cheating. It would be buying the rank - living a lie." | |
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Although PC Lau Wing-lun of Patrol Sub-unit 2, Mongkok, has been a police officer for just a year, his personal honesty and integrity has already been tested. While on patrol with his colleague, they stopped a woman whose papers indicated that she had overstayed the time allotted to her by the Hong Kong Immigration Department. When confronted with this fact, she took $800 out of her handbag and offered it to PC Lau's colleague - who refused to take it and said he was arresting her as an overstayer in Hong Kong. She again tried pushing the $800 into the hand of PC Lau's colleague. As an independent witness to the bribe, PC Lau then said they were not only arresting her for overstaying, but also for trying to bribe a police officer. "I want to be a model policeman," said PC Lau Wing-lun. "Police stand for law and order and not being corrupt - I must follow that creed." |  Don't go down the road to ruin. The new Force anti-corruption poster |
