Police Headquarters

4 Photos

After the British occupied Hong Kong in January 1841, they appointed Captain William Caine of the 26th Infantry Regiment as Chief Magistrate for maintaining law and order on Hong Kong Island. His "office", erected on a site next to the present Central Police Station, was a makeshift thatched shelter. Several months later, Mr Caine's makeshift office was taken apart for building the Victoria Prison. Mr Caine then had to rent a private house in Cochrane Street as Police Headquarters.

Central Police Station

This arrangement continued until construction of the Central Police Station at the junction of Hollywood Road and Bonham Street was finally completed in 1864. Prior to that, several police stations had been built all over Hong Kong Island. The Central Police Station was the headquarters of the Police Force. Erected next to the Victoria Prison, it had only three storeys when it was first completed. The local Chinese called it "Chung-yeung King-chue" (literal translation of "Central Police Station") or colloquially, "Daai Gwoon" ("Big House"). Whether it was "Chung-yeung King-chue" or "Daai Gwoon", its nomenclature implied the superior status of Central Police Station over the other police stations on Hong Kong Island.

The police headquarters had multiple functions - it was a place where policemen were stationed; it housed the offices of the top brass; it had training facilities for policemen (the earliest police training institute was located on its premises); and certain sections of the building were designated as living quarters. As space for these various functions was insufficient, a fourth storey was added to the Central Police Station in 1905. However, the additional storey could only offer a temporary respite from the problem. The Central Police Station in its present form was in place by 1925, after extensions were added in the period between the late 1910s and mid-1920s, including the New Wing at the junction of Hollywood Road and Old Bailey Street and the Stable Block.

Caine House

However, shortly before the Second World War, the Central Police Station had too little space to cope with the role of a police headquarters, given the more complex nature of police work by then. After the war, the police headquarters was gradually relocated to the Oriental Building at Connaught Road Central, then still by the sea. Of course, the Police Force had long recognised the shortage of space and a site in Arsenal Street in Wan Chai was chosen for a new Police Headquarters, which was completed and opened in 1954. Henceforth, the Police Headquarters was located in Arsenal Street. At the beginning, it was simply known as the Police Headquarters. Later the Force renamed it Caine House, in memory of the first security chief after the founding of Hong Kong.

May House

As Hong Kong society developed, the Force expanded in terms of both manpower and organisational structure. The idea for expansion of the Police Headquarters was first put forward in the late 1960s, but it was only in November 1973 that a new block was inaugurated. Based architecturally on the Headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US, it was christened May House, after Charles May, the first Captain Superintendent when the Police Force was officially commissioned in the 19th Century. May House is a self-contained 21-storey tower block with offices for various police departments, a canteen, sports facilities, a shooting range and a theatre.

Arsenal House

With a constantly expanding police force, however, the Police Headquarters in Arsenal Street proved once again to be inadequate in terms of space. Many units found it necessary to operate from Government Offices and rented commercial premises. Therefore, the Force decided in the mid-1980s to demolish the Married Quarters in the Arsenal Street Police Headquarters to facilitate further expansion. The expansion was carried out in two phases. The first phase, completed in 1990, consisted of the six-storey Arsenal House. The second phase was completed in 1996, consisting of a new block west of the Arsenal House.

Expansion of the Arsenal Street Police Headquarters has not yet been completed, however. The 20-year-old May House was beginning to show its age. For the Police Force to move with the times, May House, despite it being a relatively new building, had to go. It was demolished in the middle of 1999, and a new building is standing in its place in 2004.

The Caine House completed in 1954, looking west from Hennessy Road