Senior police officers asked to delay retiring amid manpower fears over Occupy Central

Senior frontline police officers are being asked to postpone their retirement to bolster manpower amid growing concerns about public order and the prospect of handling a potentially chaotic Occupy Central movement next year.

According to several sources, in recent weeks the force's management has approached "significant numbers'' of senior inspectors - long-serving officers with key experience of frontline policing - who are due to retire over the next 12 months and asked them to stay on beyond their official retirement age.

The move - described by long-serving officers as very unusual - is in part the result of a general shortage of officers of senior inspector rank.

But the main impetus behind the push is worries at the very highest levels of the force about discontent on the streets and the need to cope with the Occupy Central movement, which is threatening to bring Central to a standstill through civil disobedience next year in a push for universal suffrage.

The extension would also buy time for police chiefs to push through promotions into the senior inspector ranks.

Under civil service regulations, force management can ask officers to stay on for 90 days beyond their formal retirement date.

The unprecedented drive to keep experienced officers on also comes at a time when the compulsory retirement of police officers at age 55 has become an issue for debate in the ranks.