A senior police officer yesterday said the sex scandal involving an off-duty Hong Kong policeman in Shenzhen had damaged the force's reputation.
Chief Superintendent Ma Wai-luk, of the Police Public Relations Branch, said: 'My personal view is that [his behaviour] was inappropriate and wrong.'
Mr Ma said the incident 'more or less' damaged the force's reputation, though he thought the effect was slight.
'We're an organisation with over 20,000 members, so it's certain that there will be individual members who have done something that [they] shouldn't have done,' he told Commercial Radio's Teacup in a Storm programme.
Police Commissioner Dick Lee Ming-kwai on Wednesday said that there were 'minor cases of this nature, but in general, the image of the force will not be damaged'.
David Liu Hong-man, a constable stationed at Ngau Tau Kok, is under a 15-day detention order in Shenzhen and has been suspended after he was arrested with a prostitute on Tuesday night in a flat in the Shazuicun red-light district.
Mr Lee said he had received confirmation from the Public Security Division of Shenzhen on Wednesday afternoon that a police officer had been arrested during an anti-vice operation.