In Hong Kong, it is hard to discuss crime-prevention work at district level without noting the contribution of the District Fight Crime Committee (DFCC). We can hardly fail to notice that the partnership between the Hong Kong Police Force and community leaders remains vital for successfully preventing and combating crime.
In addition to examining the role played by DFCCs in preventing and combating crime, we aim to put forward proposals to strengthen community efforts in crime prevention in our discussion, hoping that these proposals serve as a focus for public debate.
From a broad perspective, the efforts of DFCC to promote trust between the police and the community and strengthen community involvement in crime prevention can be categorized under the heading of community policing. Many countries have introduced community policing to prevent and combat crime at the community level. DFCCs were established in 1976, mainly for the purpose of raising public awareness of the Fight Crime Campaign through organizing activities at the district level. Since then, DFCCs have developed into a focal point for community efforts to fight crime.
Much ink has been shed analyzing whether community policing is an effective way to prevent crime. Unlike traditional command-and-control policing, community policing can effectively reduce crime rates by increasing community involvement in crime-prevention efforts and improving trust and constructive communication between law enforcement agencies and residents.
The terms of reference of DFCC are: monitoring the state of crime and law enforcement in the district; coordinating all district efforts to assist the Police Force to combat crime and to reduce illicit drug dealing; promoting a good relationship between the Police Force and members of the public: and advising the Fight Crime Committee (FCC) on administrative and community-involved measures to fight crime. The FCC comprises 22 members, including 14 members of the public appointed by the chief secretary for administration and the heads of eight relevant government policy bureaus and departments.
DFCCs are established in all the city’s 18 districts. All members of DFCCs are appointed by the director of home affairs. At present, the 18 DFCCs have 499 members. Each district has its own crime characteristics due to geographical, demographic and developmental differences.
There is not the slightest shadow of a doubt that community involvement in crime prevention is important in maintaining Hong Kong as one of the safest cities in the world. To step up efforts in crime prevention and to enhance cooperation between community groups, the FCC allocated additional funding of HK$1.8 million ($230,010) to the 18 DFCCs in the 2021-22 financial year for organizing activities. DFCCs made use of the allocated funding to organize crime-prevention and crime-combating activities, including the production of souvenirs and booklets containing anti-crime messages.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government may consider expanding the range of policy options to strengthen community efforts in crime prevention. First, it may consider inviting retired police officers to function as voluntary counselors in their home districts. They may engage in light non-enforcement duties, such as participating in regular anti-crime activities, consulting residents and mediating in less serious domestic violence cases. If they are assigned to designated district offices, they may play a more active role in strengthening ties between the police and residents. For example, they may help tourists report crimes, give crime-combating advice and handle lost or found property cases.
In Japan, some retired police officers have become part-time counselors in designated districts. They are assigned to mini neighborhood police boxes called koban. Instead of engaging in law enforcement work, they play consultative and relationship-building roles in their districts. Though the koban is a unique policing product rooted deeply in Japanese culture, its easily implemented counselor system suggests that we take a leaf out of Japan’s book. We could invite retired police officers or retired officers from other law enforcement agencies to function as part-time counselors in their home districts.
The HKSAR government should also consider whether a Singapore-style “community watch scheme” (CWS) could be successfully transplanted to Hong Kong to help strengthen community policing. We are of the view that the CWS can encourage residents to keep a look out for workplace issues and possible incidents around the neighborhood, and share information about crime with the police. We are confident that the government could strike a balance between the above goals and the protection of privacy rights of residents.
In Singapore, the CWS was launched in late 2021. The CWS consists of three existing programs — the Neighborhood Watch Zone, Vehicle on Watch and Riders on Watch — and continues in its effort to create a vigilant and informed local community (Bryan Cheong, Police launch new community watch scheme to boost mission to fight crime, in The Straits Times, Dec 11, 2021). The three existing programs deserve great credit for encouraging residents to provide valuable crime information for the police.
Finally, it was perhaps thought, and in our view quite mistakenly, that DFCCs should only focus on non-national security offenses. We strongly believe that DFCCs should widen their horizons and organize more activities to raise public awareness of the National Security Law for Hong Kong. The HKSAR government should also strengthen support for district councilors and community organizers to organize activities relating to national security education for residents in the 18 districts. District councilors and community organizers, who have a legal background, are able to deal with national security education from a position of professional strength.
We hope that these proposals strengthen community efforts to assist the Hong Kong Police Force in combating crime and safeguarding national security. Community efforts represent a shared desire of the Police Force and the community to prevent crime. Common strength comes from such shared desire.
Arthur Cheung is a director of the Federation of Hong Kong Shenzhen Associations, and co-director of district administration of Chinese Dream Think Tank.
Kacee Ting Wong is a barrister, part-time researcher of Shenzhen University Hong Kong and Macao Basic Law Research Center, and chairman of Chinese Dream Think Tank.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
