Concerns over manpower boost for police force in wake of Occupy protests

The police force is set to see its manpower boosted by 841 in the coming financial year in addition to new equipment that includes three “crowd management vehicles” at a cost of HK$27 million.

The plans revealed in Wednesday’s budget immediately sparked concerns over the increased use of police resources to suppress civil protests. It also triggered fresh debate over the police’s handling of last year’s Occupy protests.

The expansion will see the police force’s total staff – disciplined and civilian staff – increase to 34,001 by the end of March next year from 33,160 last year.

The force has been allocated a budget of HK$16.8 billion in the next financial year, up from HK$15.1 billion in 2013-14 and an estimated HK$15.5 billion for the current financial year.

Some 54 per cent of the police budget will be spent on the “maintenance of law and order in the community”, with the rest going on “prevention and detection of crime”, “road safety”, and “operations”.

It coincides with a report earlier this month by the South China Morning Post that the police force would receive 500 new officer positions with the majority used to boost the Police Tactical Unit PTU which at present has 2,000 officers.

Previous post-handover police commissioners reportedly lobbied for an increase to the size of the force but to no avail.