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Tourists taking to faxes
 Counter action: Kowloon Shangri-la security chief Philip Kwan assists a guest with the Police fax form |
Reporting by fax is proving a real hit with Tsim Sha Tsui Division's customers who have recorded the highest usage rate.
Some 155 faxed reports were received by the Division from January to March, comprising about 41% of the 376 received in all Regions during the same period. The trial scheme was launched in October 1998, allowing the public to make non-urgent reports via fax and also allowing the release of report room officers to handle urgent cases. The fax forms were made widely available in every report room and even distributed to hotels for visitors' use.
TST Assistant Divisional Commander (Operations) Edwina Lau Chi-wai said: "All the faxes we received were from hotel guests who reported lost property ranging from cameras, video recorders, watches, mobile phones and credit cards worth about $310,000.
"I believe tourists prefer to report by fax because most are here for a short period and the local report room may be out of their reach."
Ms Lau said officers followed up cases and contacted reportees or the hotels if the lost property was found.
"I think we can step up promotion of reporting non-urgent issues by fax among the local community. And letting the pubic download the forms from the Force website could be another area to look at," she said.
Hoteliers also welcomed the initiative, including Kowloon Shangri-La director of security Philip Kwan.
"Before this was introduced, our staff accompanied guests to the report room and the process could take up to three hours," Mr Kwan said. "Now we simply help guests fill in the forms for swift endorsement by police. So, the scheme is well-appreciated by all."