Professional ethics not only applies to individual officers but is also a cornerstone of good police service.

On the organisational level, the Force gives due emphasis to ethics, culture and organisational development. Service quality management is conscious and top-down, and implicit in all aspects of police work. The service quality function has three main responsibilities within its charter: quality assurance, quality assessment and research. These three responsibilities are the pillars for building police ethics, police culture and organisational development.

As a quality assurance measure and in building police ethics, the Force has an internal disciplinary and complaints investigation mechanism. It also works closely with the two external bodies, namely the Independent Commission Against Corruption, a statutory body, and the Independent Police Complaints Council.

The quality assessment function helps the Force identify and trouble shoot issues that surface from surveys conducted to assess staff, customer and public perception of the Force.

Individual officers are encouraged to internalise Force values of honesty and integrity, professionalism, fairness, impartiality and compassion in all our dealings, respect for the rights of members of the public and of the Force and effective communication within and outside the Force. The objective is to ensure that Force members have the right attitudes and ethics in performing their policing duties.

Further Reading

* Dowie, Mike (2004) " Managing Police Integrity - the Hong Kong Perspective", Speech to ICAC Command Course, 4 June 2004.

* Fung Siu-yuen (2002) "A Clean Force", Speech to the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, 11 December 2002.

* Chu Ming-po (2007) "Integrity Management in the Hong Kong Police Force", Paper presented to 2nd Symposium on Police Studies of the Strait cum HK and Macao, 2007.

"Policing in Hong Kong" Report Series 10 of 11