The Force has saved $296 million in the 2005/06 financial year under the Government's Efficiency Savings Programme (ESP), bringing the Force's total savings under the ESP since 2003/04 to $820 million, said Deputy Commissioner (Management) Fung Siu-yuen.

The savings in 2003/04 and 2004/05 amounted to $246 million and $278 million respectively, and disciplined and civilian posts deleted in the three years totalled 1,935, Mr Fung added.

Mr Fung, who chairs the Steering Committee responsible for identifying areas in which savings can be made, pointed out that in identifying these areas the Force continued adhering to the major principles of not compromising frontline policing services to the public and the promotion prospects of staff.

"The overriding consideration for the Force is to minimise any impact that the savings may create," he noted.

Savings measures

In implementing the measures for 2005/06, he added, the Force continued applying the principles of the three "Rs", namely "Restructuring", "Reprioritising" and "Re-engineering".

"In other words, we have, among other measures, restructured some units, amalgamated stations, pooled resources, streamlined work procedures or out-sourced services, reset our priorities to achieve maximum efficiency and cost effectiveness, and introduced new technologies," Mr Fung explained.

As a result of this year's measures, a total of 636 disciplined and civilian posts has been deleted. This included 115 posts as a result of streamlining work procedures in Border District's Enforcement Sub-units; 42 posts from contracting out security/reception duties; 49 posts from re-engineering and civilianisation of training services; 33 posts from the centralisation of CAPO offices and the amalgamation of Lei Muk Shu Division and Tsuen Wan Division; 125 posts from Voluntary Retirement II, and 28 posts from pooling of secretarial posts in Regional Headquarters and PHQ formations, including those of the SDG.

A difficult task

Mr Fung stressed it was by no means an easy task for the Force to have saved $820 million in three years without undue impact on policing work, as well as on efficiency.

He noted: "In fact we're tightening our belt at a time when public aspirations keep on rising and our workload keeps on increasing. For example, the public order policing operation for the World Trade Organisation's Sixth Ministerial Conference to be held in the Territory at the end of this year will be just one of the additional major challenges of 2005."

And Mr Fung is proud of the fact that the Force's commitments under the ESP have not compromised service quality.

"To their credit everybody within the Force is working hard to get the job done well, and pleasingly we saw a lower crime rate last year. ESP has also provided us with an opportunity to identify areas for improvement and to find ways to enhance our efficiency and cost effectiveness. As a result, we're doing more with less," he said.

Looking into the future, Mr Fung foresees that it would be increasingly difficult for the Force to meet further ESP commitments without some impact on services to the public.

"Our workload is bound to get heavier as the public continue to expect us to do more and to do it better. Under these circumstances, I hope that all of us will pitch in and continue to find ways to enhance our efficiency and effectiveness," he said.

Frontline policing work remains as effective as ever despite the Force's ESP commitments in the last three years