LCQ17: Police's mechanism of disseminating information of unforeseen incidents
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     Following is a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, to a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah in the Legislative Council today (October 20):

Question:

     The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) has earlier released the result of its study, pointing out that since the Police implemented the digitalisation of its communications system in 2004, the number of times of dissemination of information on unforeseen incidents to the media has been on the low side.  On a daily average, the Police disseminated to the press the information on only 2.7 unforeseen incidents in the latter half of last year, which accounts for only 1.27% of the daily average of 212.7 crime cases.  HKJA also criticised the Police for disseminating information in a selective manner, in that quite a number of incidents which were important to the public, such as street deception, serious homicide and accidental death, were either withheld from or deferred in dissemination.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the number of times of dissemination of information regarding unforeseen incidents each year since the Police implemented the digitalisation of its communications system at the end of 2004, the categories of such incidents, and the percentage of the average daily number of incidents released each year in the average total number of cases recorded daily in that year;

(b) of the criteria for disseminating such information; the average time taken for disseminating information regarding each unforeseen incident, and the number of incidents the information on which could be disseminated within 20 minutes upon receipt of report;

(c) whether it will extend the scope of dissemination to cover all unforeseen incidents and involve public interest; and whether it will negotiate with the media on the criteria for dissemination so as to reach a consensus; and

(d) whether the Police will review the existing mechanism for disseminating such information so as to safeguard people's right to know?

Reply:

President,

     The Police's Third Generation Command and Control Communications System came into operation by phases since December 2004.  The system was fully implemented since March 2006 with the objective of increasing the operational efficiency of the Force and enhancing the confidentiality of internal transmission of information.  Before the system was implemented, the Police had explained the operation of the new system to major media agencies and relevant organisations and listened to their views on information dissemination.  The Police then established a new mechanism in disseminating information of unforeseen incidents to the media.

     Under the new mechanism, when an emergency call is received by the 999 Control Centre, the Police will immediately deploy officers to the scene to understand the situation, provide assistance, or conduct investigation.  After the nature of the incident reported has been ascertained and immediate measures have been taken to protect life and property of the public, the 999 Control Centre will pass the relevant information to the Police Public Relations Branch (PPRB) immediately if the case involves public interest or is a major incident.  The PPRB will then disseminate the information in the form of "Attention News Editors" through the Government News and Media Information System of the Information Services Department, so the media can decide whether to cover the case at scene.

     When disseminating information, the Police will take into consideration the public's right to know, and comply strictly with the relevant ordinances and the requirements of the "Code on Access to Information".  At the same time, the process should not affect covert operations, privacy of individuals and possible judicial procedures.  For some cases including rape or kidnapping, the Police will not disseminate the information of the cases immediately as it is necessary to protect the privacy of the victims and the safety of the persons involved.

     In addition to the above mechanism, the newsroom of the PPRB operates round the clock every day to provide information or response to media in response to their enquiries.  Currently, the newsroom handles an average of 800 to 900 enquires each day from different media agencies.  For major incidents, the Police will, depending on the circumstances, make arrangements for officers to brief the media or respond to their enquiries at scene.  Written information or press releases on the latest development of the incidents will also be issued timely.

     My reply to the four parts of the question is as follows:

(a) The Police's Third Generation Command and Control Communications System came into full operation in March 2006.  Between 2006 and 2009, the Police disseminated information of 1,516, 789, 417 and 1,239 unforeseen incidents respectively.  They were generally related to public interest or were major incidents.  The categories include murder, robbery, discovery of dead bodies, police open fire, person falling from height, person found unconscious, object falling from height, arson, industrial accident involving injury, wounding, vehicle fire and traffic accident resulting in injuries or involving multiple vehicles.

     In fact, the Police's 999 Control Centre receives a large number of calls from the public asking for assistance every day.  Most of them are non-urgent matters or general cases of request for assistance, such as minor disputes, street obstruction, noise nuisance, lost property, treating injury or sickness, etc.  Therefore, it is inappropriate to compare the figures of unforeseen incidents released with those of general cases of request for assistance.

(b) Under the existing mechanism, information on incidents involving public interest or of major incidents will be disseminated to the media.  The categories of such incidents are set out in (a) above.  The Police do not maintain the statistics recording the time taken from the receipt of a report to the dissemination of information for every unforeseen incident.  However, the result of a special study conducted between October 1 to 7 this year indicates that among the 59 unforeseen incidents on which information was disseminated by the Police in the form of "Attention News Editors", the average time taken from the receipt of a report to the dissemination of information is around 40 minutes.  Information of 18 incidents was disseminated within 20 minutes after the receipt of the report.  We have to stress that the time taken to disseminate information upon receipt of a report varies from case to case, depending on individual circumstances of an incident and the emergency follow up action that has to be taken.  The PPRB will continue to disseminate information of unforeseen incidents referred by the 999 Control Centre to the media as soon as possible.

(c) and (d) As mentioned above, in disseminating information of unforeseen incidents, the Police will take into consideration the public's right to know, the requirements of the "Code on Access to Information", and that the process should not affect covert operations, privacy of individuals and possible judicial procedures.

     We always respect the public's right to know and media's freedom of reporting.  The Police will continue to provide timely information and assistance to facilitate reporting by the media.  To improve the mechanism of disseminating information of unforeseen incidents, the Police will continue to maintain dialogue with media agencies and review the mechanism from time to time, including to improve the efficiency of information dissemination through upgrading technology and streamlining of procedures.

Ends/Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Issued at HKT 18:25

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