Besides the Performance Pledges and the Charter, the Service Quality Wing was established as another major step forward. He added: "This was very important because having a department specifically tasked with promotion of service quality will raise service standards across the board and promote service culture more effectively."

Introduction of Force Values and Healthy Lifestyle

Mr Tsang pointed out that development of Force Values was gathering momentum, and that after the whole set of Force Values was established, every Force member has to attend the bi-annual "Living-the-Values" Workshop. He added: "For Force Values we had fine tuned where necessary. Up to now, we've run six rounds of the workshop. This workshop is a must for all Force members, including civilian and auxiliary officers, because it's an important part of our organisation culture. We're preparing the seventh round because enhancement of values is very important for a service-oriented Police Force."

On promotion of healthy lifestyle, Mr Tsang said good examples were promotion of "One Officer One Sport", seminars on psychological competency, and financial management, as well as activities organised by Police arts and sports clubs.

HK a Safe City

Speaking of law and order in Hong Kong, Mr Tsang said in the 1980s and 1990s the crime rates were between 1,500 and 1,600 cases per 100,000 persons, but now the rate has dropped to about 1,160 cases per 100,000 persons.

Mr Tsang pointed out that in the 1980s and 1990s, there were on average 3,000 to 4,000 complaints against the Police each year, but the latest figure is less than 3,000 per year, the result of improvement to services and officers' personal efforts.

Said Mr Tsang: "The figures concerning corruption in the 1980s and 1990s averaged between 400 and 600 reports per year, but the figure had decreased over the past 10 years. In recent years, it has dropped to below 300 reports per year, underlining our determination to become a team with professionalism and integrity."

Emphasis on Service Quality

He stressed the Force had embedded service quality in its culture, and obtained ISO recognition in various areas, including training, Key Point Search, internal communications support, internal auditing and promotion of Force Values.

Due to the risk of Police work, Mr Tsang continued, the Force always attached importance to management of Occupational Safety and Health, and had obtained recognition from related organisations. Furthermore, the Force had also obtained the Total Caring Award for its commitments to staff and society.

Diversification of Police Work

Secondary Duty

For example, officers had received professional training for handling explosives and searching key points as secondary duties.

"There are more than 10 secondary duty jobs within the Force, and there are over 1,000 officers doing these jobs. They possess expertise of different fields and are ready to respond to urgent calls. Our establishment does not allow us to create additional posts to maintain so much manpower. Therefore, these officers are deployed only when it is necessary, for example for the Olympics Equestrian Event," said Mr Tsang.

Mr Tsang pointed out that despite the tight manpower resources brought about by the Government's Efficiency Savings Programme and measures to save resources, both major and minor activities were handled satisfactorily, and officers had carried out their secondary duties effectively.

Technology Indispensable

"The Versatile Maritime Policing Response Project is well underway, and it will re-position the Marine Region's old defence concept. Through coastal monitoring and fast deployment, the project will meet Marine Region's operational needs and beef up its capability to make a fast response," he noted.

Mr Tsang disclosed that the Force's newly developed staff management system also had to carry out "secondary duty". General staff management systems are static, and the Force had obtained funds to develop the "PICS II", which would provide appropriate manpower resources for major operations, thus boosting the Force's mobilisation ability for such operations.

Staff and Public Opinion Surveys

Besides the staff survey, Mr Tsang continued, the findings of the Public Satisfaction Survey conducted by the Force showed that the public endorsed the Force's service models. In addition, the Hong Kong University conducts a similar survey every quarter. "These three types of surveys are very helpful for our management work, and make us understand what our colleagues and the public are concerned about. For example, after the 2007 staff opinion survey we came to know the staff's concerns, took follow-up action and examined the findings of the previous survey to see whether improvements had been made," he said.

Internal Communication

In addition, the Staff Relations Unit maintains close liaison and discusses important matters with staff associations.

The second "route" is an informal communication mechanism, with the Commissioner or his Senior Directorate Grade officers calling at different units every month, "chatting" with frontline staff. In addition, there are regular meetings with officers at different ranks.

Under the third "route", staff members, besides seeking assistance from unit commanders or Training and Staff Relations Officers, might ask someone they trust within the Force to help report, on a confidential basis, matters they consider unreasonable. Such reports would be handled by Directorate Grade officers and informants would be given support, said Mr Tsang.

Way Forward

Mr Tsang has touched on many aspects of the Force's developments over the years

The "Living-the-Values" Workshop in progress

The Force has received the Caring Organisation Logo for the fourth year running