The Police Public Relations Branch organises the presentation ceremony twice a year to honour the good citizens, with sponsorship by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC). At last month's presentation, each of the honoured citizens was presented with a certificate and a cash prize of $2,000, except Mr To Kin-fai, who received two awards for his contributions to two cases.

In the first case, which happened on the night of December 14, 2005, three men attacked an expatriate woman and made off with her cell phone and handbag in Mong Kok. Alerted by the victim's hue and cry, Mr To, a lorry driver, chased after the culprits, subdued one of them and recovered one of the stolen articles. The man was subsequently sent to a Training Centre of the Correctional Services Department upon conviction of robbery.

In the second case, a man made off with a handbag left unattended in a shop in Sham Shui Po on the night of January 17, this year. The victim shouted for help and chased after the man. Mr To joined the chase, intercepted the culprit and recovered the handbag. The man was sent to a drug addiction treatment centre upon conviction of theft.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Tang King-shing commended the awardees for setting good examples to other citizens with their courage, vigilance and spontaneity. He also thanked HKGCC for raising about $1 million for the Good Citizen Award Fund at its anniversary dinner held in April.

A General Committee Member of HKGCC, Mr Stanley Hui, said the Chamber had been sponsoring the award scheme since 1973, with over 3, 000 citizens commended, and would continue to support this meaningful scheme.

Also speaking at the ceremony, a Member of the Fight Crime Committee, Ms Vivien Chan, noted that the full support and co-operation of the public was most crucial to the fight against crime.

Prior to the presentation ceremony, a new TV Announcement in the Public Interest (API) on deception was premiered to kick off the 2006/07 Fight Crime Publicity Campaign.

The API, in both Cantonese and English, calls on members of the public to stay alert to swindlers at all times.

The TV API and a radio API in Cantonese, Putonghua and English are being broadcast on TV and radio stations.

The Fight Crime Publicity Campaign is being conducted by the Fight Crime Committee Publicity Sub-Committee, which comprises representatives from the Security Bureau, Police, Information Services Department, Education and Manpower Bureau, Social Welfare Department, Home Affairs Department and District Fight Crime Committees.

Mr Tang and Ms Chan with the good citizens