War against violence: Hong Kong Police received $2.5 billion overtime allowance last year, police officers account for 90% of suspected corruption cases concerning civil servants relating to "anti-extradition" protests

Average monthly overtime allowance of $16,000 per person

The police's overtime allowance (OTA) continues to arouse public concern. Many Legislative Council members continued to follow up with supplementary questions on the latest figures during Finance Committee meetings. In response, the police indicated that the total expenditure on OTA for the whole of 2019-20 was approximately $2.52 billion, which was a $460 million increase from last month alone. On average, the year saw 13,000 recipients per month and a further increase of 1,000 "beneficiaries". Each recipient got an average of $16,000 per month.

This considerable remuneration failed to attract the public to join the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF). The number of applicants dropped sharply. In reply to a Finance Committee supplementary question by legislator Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, the police stated that the number of applicants for Inspector of Police (IP) was only 5,223 during the 2019-20 recruitment. Compared to 7,350 last year, it decreased by more than 2,000 or nearly 30%. In the same year, only 6,751 applied to be a Police Constable (PC), a decrease of 3,827 or 36% from the previous year.

55 officers ranked Superintendent or higher resigned

Retired police officers recruited as "replenishment"

The HKPF admitted a total of 169 IPs and 705 PCs last year, representing decreases of 23% and 37% respectively compared to last year. In the same period, a total of 1,313 resigned, which constitutes a turnover rate of 4.5%. This includes 55 officers ranked Superintendent or higher, 67 IPs and 1,161 PCs. From last June to March of this year, there were 473 unanticipated resignations, an increase of 119 or 33.6% from the same period last year.

The police said they planned to recruit 225 probationary IPs and 1,620 PCs this year. They expected to retain and recruit 1,600 to 1,700 officers who are near retirement or have already retired. They added that no Mainland law enforcement officers were appointed as Special Constables.

Eddie Chu also repeatedly questioned the Commissioner of Police on entertainment expenses, which was simply claimed to already have been included in the previous year's entertainment expenses of $1.01 million.The did not specify the latest amount, only stating that Chris Tang spent about a third of his official entertainment budget.

130 police officers lost their warrant cards last year 

Officers "reprimanded" for misuse of "operational call signs"

Replying to a question on warrant cards by Civic Party legislator Kwok Ka-ki, the police revealed that 130 officers lost their warrant cards last year, the highest in the past five years. As of 9 April, the Complaints Against Police Office (CAPO) received a total of 26 "Reportable Complaints" and 62 "Notifiable Complaints" against police officers who failed to show their warrant cards during the "anti-extradition" protests.

Regarding the issue where multiple police officers wore identical "operational call signs", the police reiterated that certain unit(s) had a misunderstanding about the "operational call signs" and that the management advised the relevant unit(s). They added that there was one case where a police officer was "rebuked" relating to operational call signs. CAPO also received two "Notifiable Complaints" of officers not wearing "operational call signs".

$337 million received via "allocation warrant" last year

Civic Party legislator Jeremy Tam Man-ho followed up on the HKPF's use of "allocation warrant" to distribute funds to other departments. The police disclosed that $337 million was authorised via "allocation warrant" for 2019-20, of which $161 million was spent on enhancing Central Government Offices security measures. The police explained that it was a common arrangement for government departments to incur expenses on their behalf through allocation warrants. This included the Treasury's commitment to compensatory pay for work-related injuries in police officers and the Civil Service Bureau's subsidies for study programmes, etc. The police force received just $83 - $112 million in each of the four years from 2015 to 2019 via "allocation warrant", far less than last year.*

In addition, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has replied to Democratic Party politician Lam Cheuk-ting's inquiry+, stating that of the 28 suspected corruption cases that concerned civil servants relating to the "anti-extradition" protests, 26 involved police officers. The ICAC expressed that due to confidentiality reasons, it was inappropriate to divulge information like the number of police officers implicated.

Source: https://hk.appledaily.com/local/20200428/QAIIKKSBUBHHTXRNRZOBCW2QU4/

Editor's Notes:

The original article draws information directly from this document: 

https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr19-20/english/fc/fc/sup_w/s-sb-e.pdf

* 2019 refers to the 2018-2019 term. "Last year" refers to the 2019-2020 term which ended in March.

+ https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1523238-20200428.htm