RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 55

THE ROLE OF THE POLICE, PROSECUTION AND
THE JUDICIARY IN THE CHANGING SOCIETY
So Chit-Kwan, Isabel*
I. INTRODUCTION
In the 1960’s, Hong Kong was still an
entrepôt, with a population of 2.2 million.
Nowadays, it has grown into a modern cityof over 6.5 million population. During theyears, the society has undergone rapidchanges in terms of social, economic,
technological and also political changes. As
part of these changes, crimes of concern
arised from time to time, at different
periods. The government, including
legislators, policy makers, the judiciary andlaw enforcement agencies, have responded
to such changes for the effective control andprevention of crime.
This paper will briefly outline the recentchanges in society and crimes of concern
brought about by it in Hong Kong. Detailed
discussion of the current situation ofparticular crime, responses of thegovernment; in particular the police,
judiciary and legislative changes, to combat
and prevent such crimes. Some problems
encountered, and the success brought
about in the process of controlling andpreventing such crimes, are also discussed.
II. THE DIFFERENT ROLES OF
THE POLICE, PROSECUTION AND
JUDICIARY IN HONG KONG
The roles of the police, prosecution andjudiciary in Hong Kong are separate. To
ensure fairness and justice, they work
independent of each other. The judiciaryis independent from the executive andlegislative branches of government. The*

Chief Inspector of Police, Commercial Crime
Bureau, Hong Kong Police, Hong Kong.

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courts make their own judgements,
whether disputes before them involve
private citizens, corporate bodies or thegovernment itself. Judges make decisions
and findings on their own judgement,
according to the laws which are mostly
written down in ordinances.
The Department of Justice is the legal
adviser of the Hong Kong government. All
government departments seek legal advice
from it, for all legal actions. It is
responsible for the drafting of all
legislation, representing the government incourt to institute and conduct prosecutions.
The Hong Kong police are the only police
force in Hong Kong. It has operational
responsibility for crime prevention anddetection, the maintenance of public orderand traffic matters.
III. CHANGE OF SOCIETY IN
HONG KONG AND RESULTANTCRIME
As the population rapidly grew, thegovernment tried to build cities in the suburban areas to diverge the population fromthe centre of the city to less populatedareas. The family structure also changed
from large extended families to small
nuclear families, mostly with a husband,wife and two children. Most of the young
families in Hong Kong have both parents
working, leaving children unattended after
school. The education system is also a
problem. There is free education provided
by the government until Form 3, i.e.
children around 15 years. The curriculum
emphasizes mainly academic subjects.
Technical schools are not welcomed by

111TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
parents. Students who are under-achieversin school do not go to work, but just wander
the streets with peer groups. The
possibility of association with bad
characters and committing crime becomes
higher. Juvenile crimes relating to shop
theft and drug abuse are matters of concern
in the 1990s.
Economically, since post World War II,
Hong Kong grew from a small light plastic
and textile industrial city to a service
trading centre in South East Asia, andbecame one of the world’s financial centres.
Servicing trade between China and the restof the world has traditionally been thefundamental reasons for Hong Kong’s
growth and prosperity. Since the adoptionof open door policies by China in the late1970’s, economic relations with mainland
China have undergone rapid growth anddevelopment. In line with its wellestablished trade, Hong Kong has a welldeveloped banking system. The
government also adopted a laissez-faire
approach to the economy. International
money flows in and out of Hong Kong freely.
The convenience and low tax policy attracts
investment in Hong Kong or through HongKong. All these are elements of Hong
Kong’s success in maintaining good
economic growth. However, the freeeconomy (with minimum government
intervention) created problems for law
enforcement, prosecution and the judiciary.
Commercial crime is always on the upsurge
and causes the most loss in terms of money.
Hong Kong went through the mostprominent political change in July 1997;
the change of sovereignty from Britian to
China. Before the handover, people would
expect an increase in cross-border crimeand corruption because people believed
mainland Chinese are more inclinded tocorrupt cultures. However, the statistics
do not support this hypothesis and there
is no record of crime increases. In fact, thecommon cross-border crimes, such as stolen
vehicles and violent crime with the use of
firearms, are decreasing.
New technology emerges everyday andchanges rapidly, giving convenience tosociety as well as criminals. This also
brings about problems for law enforcement,
prosecution and the judiciary, as the law
and knowledge of technology of thegovernment officials concerned is always
behind the latest development oftechnology. Computer crime is one of theprominent crimes which is expected tocreate huge losses and trouble in the near
future.
IV. JUVENILE CRIME
A. Present Situation
Similar to most of the urban cities in theworld, juvenile crime is always a problem,
but is not serious in Hong Kong. However,
it is a priority of concern to the Hong Kong
government and community. In Hong
Kong, there are two ordinances to deal withand to protect juveniles :(i) Juvenile Offenders Ordinance CAP 226
This ordinance is particularly
important as it allows juveniles under
16 years to be tried in juvenile court,
which restricts the presence of people
in court and the extent of matters to bereported in the news media.
(ii) Protection of Women & Juveniles
Ordinance CAP 213
The importance of this ordinance isthat it makes provisions for a juvenile
court to issue ‘Care and Protection
Orders’. On the application of thepolice or Social Welfare Department,
the court may consider a juvenile under
the age of 18 years in need of care andguardianship. This includes protection
if his/her parent/guardian is unfit or
unable to exercise care and

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 55
guardianship, and he/she is beyond
control, falling into bad associations or
exposed to moral or physical danger.
The court may appoint the Director ofSocial Welfare Department as legal
guardian, commit the child to the careof any person or institution, order theparents/guardian to enter into a
recognisance to exercise proper care or
make an order for supervision by aprobation officer (a professional social
worker).
During 1997, there were 5964 juvenile
offenders aged between 7 and 15 arrested
for crime. In comparison to the totalarrests of 41714 persons, juveniles only
contributed 14.3% of the arrested persons
for the year. A comparatively large
proportion of them were arrested foroffences such as shop theft, miscellaneousthefts, wounding and serious assault.
82.5% of juvenile offenders were students
involved in minor offences.
The overall crime reported in the last ten
years in Hong Kong is quite constant andthere has been a decrease since 1996. The
decrease in crime was mainly attributableto drops in burglary, minor thefts (includingshop theft), serious narcotics offences androbberies. The statistics do not imply that
more juveniles were arrested for crime inthe last ten years, but rather there was an
upsurge in committing minor offences suchas ‘shop theft’ by them.
Narcotic activities involving juveniles isof concern in recent years. Between 1983
and 1991, juveniles arrested for drug
offences was quite constant. However,since 1992 there has been a significant
increase. In 1992, 14.1% of the total
number of drug arrests were juvenile
offenders. It increased to 17.5% in 1995.
On the type of drugs abused, there is an
upsurge of abuse of soft drugs such as ‘ice’and cough medicine.

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B. Control and Preventive
Initiatives
The Hong Kong government isdetermined to fight against narcotic
offences, especially regarding young people.
In 1995, the government took the initiativeof opening the first Governor’s Summit
meeting, followed with further meetings in
1996, to co-ordinate the relevant
government departments in solving the
problem by a multi-agency approach.
Subsequently, the Action Committee
Against Narcotics was set up to tackle theproblem. Action plans were formulated tocombat drug abuse by juveniles, as well as
juvenile crime, at three levels.
1. Law Enforcement Levels(i) Amendments to Legislation• Amendment to the Drug Trafficking(Recovery of Proceeds) Ordinance in
September 1995 makes it even moredifficult for drug traffickers tolaunder and retain their illicit profits
from drug trafficking. Heavier
sentences can be imposed on adults
who are found to involve juveniles in
the illegal drug trade.
• Amendment to the Pharmacy andPoisons Ordinance to increase themaximum penalties for offences ofillegal or improper sale of drugs.
(ii) Control of Drugs by Law Enforcement
Agencies• Extend statutory licensing controls to
21 more chemicals used in the illicit
manufacture of drugs. The newcontrol system commenced operationfrom early 1996 by the Customs andExcise Department.
• The Department of Health increased
inspection of pharmacies from 560 to
700 per month since September 1995,
to clamp down on the illegal sale ofprescription drugs. A special task
force was set up to help theprosecution of offending drug

111TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
retailers.
• Additional manpower and resourceswere given to the police to increase
surveillance activities.
(iii) Police Initiatives to Combat Juvenile
Crime and Drug Abuse• Police regions make their own actionplans to step up proactive
enforcement actions at drug
blackspots (such as housing estates),and youth gang blackspots (e.g.
amusement game centres, billiard
halls, parks etc). Special attention
is paid to cases in which youth areemployed by adults as drug couriers;
every effort is made to gather
sufficient evidence to prosecute theadults involved.
• School teams of police continue tovisit schools, arranged talks in theschools to deliver messages that are
anti-triad and anti-drug abuse.
• Police Missing Persons Units
contribute more effort to make followup enquiries on the associates ofyoung persons, with a view to locate
them earlier. Care and Protection
Orders under the Juvenile Protection
Ordinance will be applied for in every
suitable case, for proper follow-up byprofessional social workers on the
problem youth.
• The police extended theSuperintendent’s Discretion Scheme
to allow police officers of or above therank of Superintendent to issue a
caution to a juvenile rather thantaking criminal prosecution. The
caution is given to those who have notyet reached the age of eighteen andhave only committed minor offences.
Close supervision and an aftercare
program will be followed by social
workers and police after the caution.
2. Prevention and Education Level• Publicity through news media andexhibitions to increase the awarenessof the drug problem and to warn thejuvenile to keep away from drugs or
any criminal offences, such as shop
theft.
• Through schools and teachers, toeducate students as well as theirparents to steer the juveniles awayfrom crime.
• All police regions and different
government departments formulate
their own programs, which are in linewith the action plans of thegovernment, to fit the local situationof different areas.
• Apart from enforcing the law, thepolice have to involve themselves incommunity activities. The police will
present and arrange community
activities involving youth or schools
in order to send out messages ofcombating and preventing crimes.
3. Treatment and Rehabilitation Level• The government has allocatedgreater resources to establish more
residential treatment centres anddrug abuse clinics for young drug
abusers.
• Involvement in criminal proceedings
can be a very distressing experience
for a juvenile, and criminal conviction
and the consequent sentence may
constitute the destruction of his or
her future.
The police
Superintendent’s Discretion Scheme
is an alternative to criminal
proceedings and an effective
rehabilitation program for young
offenders. In 1997, 35% of juvenile
offenders under the age of 18 werecautioned under this scheme, rather
than criminal proceedings being
instituted.
• The Juvenile Offender’s Ordinancealso allows the young person’s
criminal record be removed by thepolice after a certain period of time395

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 55
after the sentence.
C. Multi-agency Approach
The multi-agency approach to control
and prevent juvenile crime and drug abusehas proved to be a success. In less than
three years, the overall crime rate dropped
by 14.8% between 1996 and 1997. Juvenile
offenders arrested for crime dropped by
9.1% and there was a drop of almost 11%of drug addicts in Hong Kong.
The efforts of police officers inc o m m u n i t y e d u c a t i o n , p u b l i c i t y,
enforcement, and rehabilitation, together
with the effort of the legislators to amend
the relevant legislation, as well as theefforts of other government agencies, suchas social welfare and the Department of
Health, combine together in forming
effective interdiction to stop the upsurge
trend of juvenile crime, especially inconnection with drug abuse.
V. COMMERCIAL CRIME
A. Present Situation
Hong Kong was an entrepot in the 1980’s
and transformed into an international
financial centre in 1990’s. Money can bothcome into and out of Hong Kong freely.
Investment comes from all over the world.
Together with a highly efficient banking
and financial system, Hong Kong is a havenfor the money laundering of crime proceeds.
Commercial crimes committed have
involved international criminals anddifferent kinds of investment tools.
In the past years, the total number ofreports of deception, fraud and forgery
cases is on the upsurge, but the number offraud reports to the Commercial Crime
Bureau has remained relatively steady.
This may be explained by the change incharter by the Commercial Crime Bureau
in 1995, to take up more complex cases
involving loss over HK$5 million. Although396

the number of fraud reports remains quite
steady, investigations have become
increasingly more complex andinternational.
B. Problems in Investigation andProsecution
Unlike violent crime, most victims ofcommercial crime reported their casemerely with a view to recover their money/
loss. Many of them are not willing toappear in criminal court to punish thesuspect(s) with imprisonment or fine. Mostof the commercial crime cases are very
complicated, involving voluminous
documents. Usually, it takes a much longer
time to complete these investigations thanother crimes. Always, by the time theinvestigation has been completed and isready for prosecution, the suspect(s) havealready disappeared. For prosecution, it
is also very difficult as the voluminous
documentary exhibits are to be presented
in court one by one by witnesses standing
in the box, thus it is a time consuming
process. Not all the judges and juries canfully understand and remember thecontents of each document after a long trial.
Moreover, many commercial crime cases
were committed internationally. These
involved a number of different jurisdictions
and different judicial systems. This makes
the investigation and prosecution very
difficult. To gain a conviction is even moredifficult and takes a very long time.
C. Solutions
1. Legislation
The Organised and Serious Crimes
Ordinance, which was enacted in April
1995, widens the police and judiciary’s
power to investigate and combat organised
crime, including organised commercial
crime and money laundering. The
following are the aims of the law:(i) assist police to investigate organised
crimes and to trace the proceeds of

111TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
crime. Restraining orders can be
drawn out from the court to safeguard
the crime proceeds before any
prosecution can be instigated in court;(ii) impose heavy penalties and enhance
sentences for members of syndicates ifthey do not return the proceeds ofcrime;(iii) disintegrate syndicates by the use ofstrong forfeiture provisions and impose
punishment for those who assist inmoney laundering; and(iv) financial institutes have the duty toreport suspicious money laundering
activities.
The Complex Commercial Crime
Ordinance, which was enacted in 1988, canassist in reducing the length of trial incomplex commercial cases. The importantfeature of the ordinance is that the judge
has the power to order a preparatory
hearing before the jury is empanelled, forthe purpose of:(i) identifying issues which are likely to
be material to the verdict of the jury;(ii) assisting the jury’s comprehension of
any such issues;(iii) expediting the proceedings before thejury, by making legal argument andadmissibility of evidence before thetrial; or(iv) assisting the judge’s management of
trial.
The Hong Kong police are heading
towards computerisation. Advenced
technology can assist the documantation
and analysis of a large number of
documantary exhibits during theinvestigation, and the presentation of
exhibits in court.
2. International Liaison and Mutual
Legal AssistanceStrengthening liaisons with overseas
law enforcement agencies and the judiciary

can greatly improve the efficiency ofinvestigation. Being a sub-bureau of the
China National Central Bureau, the Hong
Kong police are a member of theInternational Criminal Police Organisation(ICPO) - Interpol, performing the same
duties as before the transfer of sovereignty.
Through the Interpol Channel, the police
can make requests for assistance from law
enforcement agencies overseas, to assist
enquiries on overseas witnesses, locatingsuspects and dealing with criminal
information. The Hong Kong police also
maintain close contact with the overseas
liaison offices of foriegn law enforcement
agencies in Hong Kong, and liaison offices
in mainland China. The speedy assistanceprovided by our overseas counterparts isinvaluable in police investigation.
In order to present overseas evidence incourt, mere liaison is not enough. The
Evidence Ordinance (Cap. 8) of the law inHong Kong allows evidence taken by theSupreme Court, and exhibits tendered toit, to be provided to foreign courts in certain
circumstances. The Ordinance also enables
Hong Kong to seek evidence from abroad,and admit it in legal proceedings in HongKong. This ordinance is only suitable forcases with a view to prosecution.
In addition to the mentioned
international assistance on investigationand prosecution, the Mutual Legal
Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance(Cap. 525), law of Hong Kong enacted in
February 1998, enables Hong Kong to
make and respond to requests to and fromother jurisdictions in relation to criminal
matters which are serious enough towarrant a sentence of 12 months or morein prison in the country in which they occur.
The followings are such requests, which
may cover :(i) Taking of evidence and production of
documents before a magistrate;

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 55(ii) Application for the service of thesummons;(iii) The search for and seizure of exhibits;(iv) T h e p r o d u c t i o n o f r e l e v a n t
documentary evidence;(v) The service of documents by a bailiff;(vi) Matters pertaining to the confiscationof the proceeds of crime;(vii)The transfer of persons (including
prisoners) to other jurisdictions toprovide assistance.
With the power given under thisordinance, it can reduce the physical caseenquiries made overseas, and theinvestigations made by overseas agencies
can be admissible as evidence in future
court proceedings, to reduce the duplicationof work by the police and judiciary. The
assistance provided to overseas
jurisdictions is a reciprocal assistance.
There are many different types ofcommercial fraud in Hong Kong. The
common ones are Long Firm Fraud, letterof credit (documentary credit) fraud,
employee fraud and Forex/Loco-London
Gold Leveraged Trading Fraud. Forex
Leveraged Trading is a good example thatthe change of legislation and vigorous
enforcement actions can almost completely
remove this crime. The enactment of newlegislation in September 1994 to control
leveraged foreign exchange trading (Forex),
forced unethical companies out of the Forexbusiness in Hong Kong. Unfortunately,
many of the fraudsters who previously
operated Forex companies have now
targeted the new and currently
unregulated areas of gold and silver
trading. Therefore, consideration is being
given to controlling the unregulated goldand silver trading to prevent fraud being
perpetrated by this type of investment tool.
Proper legislative change, responding tocertain ways of committing crime, can bevery effective.

398

VI. COMPUTER CRIME
A. Present Situation
The use of computers is very common
nowadays. As technology advances, it is
no longer used as a wordprocessor or astorage tool for information, but as acommunication tool. Communication
between computers using the Internet hascreated ‘cyberspace’, in which people cantalk, exchange information, trade andprovide services. Within cyberspace there
are no geographic or jurisdictionalboundaries. The information, electronicmoney or goods can be transferred from one
jurisdiction to another within seconds,
leaving no trace.
The efficiency and convenience ofcomputers has been used to commit crimes.
Hacking into others computers to obtain
information or cause damage; and within
the Internet, gambling and publishingobscene articles, are common computerrelated crimes in Hong Kong. As the useof computers and the magnitude ofcyberspace is expanding by multiples,computer-related crime, in terms of thenumber of reports and losses, has also
expanded at the same pace. The numberof reports on computer-related crime
increased by eight times, whilst the amountof losses increased by more than 3 times
since 1993. At present, the loss of HK$2
million this year is minimum in comparison
with the total amount of loss of HK$2377
million in commercial crime cases.
However, the growth is of concern to thelaw enforcement and judicial system inHong Kong. The magnitude of cyberspace
has expanded tremendously in the last few
years and is expected to grow at a faster
speed in the near future. Police records
show that most computer-related crimes
were committed by students who were
mostly doing it for mischief. However, withthe growing popularity of E-commerce inHong Kong, such as shopping on the

111TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
Internet and Internet Banking, it isexpected that more crime will be committed
by sophisticated criminals throughcomputers and internet communication
networks. The loss and damage can be verysignificant. Therefore, pro-active actions
are required to prevent this.
B. Legislation
To cope with the new problems arisingfrom new technology, the law also needs tokeep abreast of the development of newtechnology. In Hong Kong, the Computer
Crimes Ordinance was enacted on 23 April
1993 in order to clarify and amend the law
relating to the misuse of computers. Apartfrom creating some offences to address new
problems, this new legislation consists ofa number of amendments to the existinglegislation at that time; namely the
Telecommunication Ordinance, the Crimes
Ordinance and the Theft Ordinance. In
fact, at that time, most of the computerrelated offences could be addressed by theexisting law, but it is unable to interpretthe latest technology. The computer
ordinance bestows on the judiciary asystem to cope with changes in technology.
C. Control and Preventive
Initiatives
In 1993, the Hong Kong Police took the
initiative to respond to the change oftechnology. The Computer Crime Sectionof the Commercial Crime Bureau of theHong Kong police was established in 1993
to enforce the Computer Crime Ordinance.
The Section is responsible for the following:(i) making investigations into all reported
computer crime;(ii) examining and retrieving data forevidential value from computers;(iii) studying new developments with aview to highlighting problem areas and;(iv) identifying potential solutions toprevent the occurrence crime.

In 1997, the Hong Kong government
started to see the risk and opportunity
given by the computer-related technology.
The government also takes the initiative
to open the market as well as preventing
any fault. There is a vision for Hong Kong
to become a digital city in the 21st century.
HK$173 million was allocated from thebudget in 1997 to research and set up a
program on Electronic Service Delivery.
The purpose is to provide an environment,
infrastructure, security and control ondeveloping electronic commerce. The
following are the initiatives of thegovernment:• By 1999, new legislation on ECommerce will be drafted for‘Certification Authority’ to beestablished. The authorised users
will be required to register and obtain
digital keys to ensure theconfidentially and trustworthiness of
information;• Set a requirement of encryption
security.
Academics in the educational institutesof Hong Kong are at the forefront oftechnology. Seeing the rapid growth ofcyberspace and its possible risks, they took
the initiative to form informal working
groups with members from government
law enforcement agencies, government
policy makers and legislators, hoping findeffective ways to identify problems, control
and prevent them.
D. Problems and Preventive
Measures
Most of the law enforcement officers andthe general public have very little
knowledge of this new area of technology.
On the side of law enforcement agencies,
we ask how can we capture or retrieve datain cyberspace, which can be destroyed
within a second? As a member of the public,
we ask how can we secure information and

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 55
prevent damage? The following measures
should be considered or continued:(i) We all need to be educated on newtechnology.
(ii) The law which is always behindtechnology, needs to be amended or
created to keep abreast of the problem.
(iii) T h e r e a r e n o g e o g r a p h i c o r
jurisdictional boundaries withincyberspace. Local legislation, as wellas international resolutions, are neededto address this problem.
VII. POLITICAL CHANGE
The change of sovereignty of Hong Kongfrom the United Kingdom to China in July
1997 was a prominent political change.
Long before the handover, people in Hong
Kong and overseas worried about theincrease in crime prior to and after thehandover. Fortunately, the statistics do notsupport this. In fact, the overall crime rate
for 1997 reached the lowest level in 24
years. The decrease of overall crime isattributed to a decrease of violent crime,
robbery, burglary and missing vehicles.
After the handover, without the hurdleof different jurisdictions (i.e. between
China and Britain), as part of China, there
is continuous improvement in co-ordination
between Hong Kong and mainland law
enforcement agencies on intelligenceexchange, assistance on case investigations
and joint efforts in combating cross bordercrimes. As a result, the tight control on
smuggling firearms into Hong Kong fromthe mainland, and the smuggling of stolen
vehicles into the mainland, attributed tothe obvious drop in robberies connectedwith firearms, and 24% reduction in thetheft of vehicles.
VIII. CONCLUSION
Our role as the police is to respond tothe changes which are brought about by

400

the change of society, and to find a way tocombat crime. Because the judicial system
in Hong Kong is independent, the roles ofprosecutors and the judiciary are very
passive. They can only react to the changesof law and make decisions according to thelaw.
The changes in politics, economics, social
structure and technology in society can giverise to particular crimes. The change inthe economic environment can also giverise to commercial crime which is moreglobalized; committing greater loss interms of money in Hong Kong. Betterinternational liaisons, streamlining court
procedures for complex commercial cases,
and change of legislation, can improve
investigation, and enhance the chance toapprehend and convict the offenders, so as
to suppress crime.
The social change gives rise to juvenile
crime on minor offences. It is the role ofthe police to identify the trend of crime,
jointly with other government
departments; the role of legislators to
identify the causes of these crimes
committed by juveniles, and to assist in thereform of offenders by involving all parties
in rehabilitation programs, rather thanmerely in prosecution. The society is now
much more vocal and has higher demands
for quality service. The police have to
involve themselves in the community andlisten to the demands of the public in order
to combat crimes, as well as providing abetter service.
The police, prosecutors and judges haveto keep themselves abreast of advances int e c h n o l o g y, a s c o m p u t e r c r i m e i ncyberspace will be a problem in theforeseeable future. To cope with change,
the efforts of the police cannot be alone.
The government should provide theinfrastructure, environment and education
to control the possible rise of computer

111TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINARPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS
crime; such as amendments to legislation
to keep abreast of new technology and thelaunching of the Electronic Delivery
Service program.
During political change, the mostimportant role of the police is to maintainpublic order and control any rise of crime.
The roles of the prosecutor and the
judiciary are to maintain justice andexercise the power bestowed to them inordinances. In Hong Kong, during thetransition and after the transfer ofsovereignty, the police, prosecutors andjudiciary have done their utmost to
successfully maintain law and order, witha declining trend in overall crime.

401