POLICE will continue to be allowed to recruit expatriate inspectors from Britain under their exemption from the localisation policy, said the Acting Secretary for the Civil Service, Stuart Harbinson.
He gave no reasons for the ''tradition'', and said it was up to the Commissioner of Police whether to recruit from Britain.
He was responding to Meeting Point legislator Fred Li Wah-ming, who asked why the police brought inspectors from Britain when it was not difficult to attract locals to the force.
He asked why overseas recruitment was only open to British applicants, and not to people from countries such as the United States and Canada.
The localisation policy calls for priority for local rather than overseas people in government recruitment.
''The Commissioner of Police considers it desirable to continue the traditional practice of recruiting a small number of inspectors for the police force from overseas,'' Mr Harbinson said.
