On April 1, all current HQOs were cancelled and the majority of them incorporated into appropriate manuals or circulated through the Police Email Network (PEN), Police Intranet (POINT) or through formation homepages.

The changes were introduced after a review found the HQO system was being misused.

The Steering Committee on Police Internal Communications (SCPIC) was told in May last year that 975 HQOs were found to be in force dating back to late 1970s. Many were out of date and the annual review system was not functioning as intended.

More modern systems of distribution such as manuals, PEN and POINT were considered better-suited to effective dissemination and SCPIC Chairman and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Management) Tsang Yam-pui directed a working group be formed under Training Wing to review the HQO system. Comprised of senior officers from all major HQO-issuing formations, the working group oversaw a reduction of valid HQOs from 975 to about 50. Its findings and recommendation to cancel many orders and incorporate others into manuals or electronic dissemination were recently endorsed by the SCPIC and introduced.

Working group member Woman Superintendent Grace Tsang Wei-lin of Personnel Wing, said cutting the glut had made searches for orders much easier.

"The new system is up-to-date and all of the outdated orders have been cleared out making life easier for officers who previously had to sift through a large volume of old orders to find what they were looking for," she said.

WSP Tsang added the remaining 40 to 50 HQOs would be reissued from April 1, and consist of only one part from now on.

"It is the view of the working group that methods for promulgating new HQOs will remain unchanged, however all officers are urged to consider all possible methods of dissemination before resorting to issuing a HQO. They should only be used for operational practices and procedures which would be inappropriate for circulation by any other means," she said.

Review of HQOs would continue annually.



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