Officers keep a safety eye on crowd movement during Lunar New Year festivities

The Force is applying video technology to assist with crowd management and has tested several systems over the New Year and Lunar New Year festive period in congested Yau Tsim, Central and Wan Chai Districts.

Although some minor technical glitches were experienced, feedback from formations said the system proved effective allowing a bird's-eye view of congested areas and giving officers more scope in analysing and predicting crowd movement.

The Yau Tsim system experienced problems such as poor images and unsteady signal transmission during an initial test on Christmas Eve. These were resolved in time for the millennium countdown celebration a week later. Other problems such as gaining access to private buildings to install equipment were also quickly resolved through liaison with building owners. Communications Branch Systems Engineering and Research head Jolly Wong Chun-kau said with the successful trials, the unit was now studying other applications for the systems.

"In May last year we started looking at extending our communications from just voice to multimedia and began exploring video technology from around the world for effective crowd control management. Pictures tell a thousand words and such systems allow for an overview of strategic areas to monitor the profile and movement of the crowds and has so far proven an extremely cost-effective solution," Mr Wong said.

Despite using the latest technology, the cost of implementation and integration has been kept low using only ordinary residential telephone connections rented for about $110 a month.

Wireless microwave systems were also tested and have proved effective albeit more expensive.
"The quality has proven good enough for the job and can be upgraded later if necessary, after we look at the possibilities of more advanced applications and technology," he added. COMMS staff joined police officers at command posts to assist in the monitoring of crowd movements by providing an immediate service to fine-tune small technical problems.

"We noticed when police officers saw something on the monitor, such as a sudden rush of people from an MTR exit, they radioed officers in the field to start diversions and take other action.

"This wasn't so easy before when officers had only ground communications as it was difficult to see and predict what the crowd were doing.

"The video system allowed for better judgements based on crowd psychology techniques as well as physical crowd movements which was most essential.

"An officer with an overview of a situation can better anticipate and respond instantly thereby allowing for more effective deployment of manpower," Mr Wong said.

"These have been very successful exercises and we must thank the building owners for the use of their property and electricity - this has been highly appreciated."

He said COMMS would continue to look at improving systems and cost effectiveness, adding that a mobile system for quick deployment could be highly useful.

The use of CCTV by police in overseas jurisdictions has been highly successful also, particularly in the United Kingdom where almost half of all metropolitan and non-metropolitan councils have them installed in town centres.

When first installed, the cameras had a strong deterrent effect on general crime and anti-social behaviour. It also allowed for the rationalisation and more economical use of police resources as officers spent less time investigating false alarms.

Moreover, it enabled quicker and more appropriate responses to genuine incidents leading to early detections, prosecutions and convictions.

Citizens who were aware of the CCTV systems also said the existence of the cameras made them feel safer.

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