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Martin Wong

Surveillance cameras may be installed in Lan Kwai Fong, Wan Chai and Sham Shui Po as nervous district councillors fear more acid attacks.
'Yes, we are worried. And we pay special attention to Lan Kwai Fong since it has many similarities with streets where acid attacks have occurred,' Central and Western District Council chairman Chan Tak-chor  said.
Councillors will meet police and officials from the Home Affairs Department to discuss their fears.
There have been eight acid attacks since December 2008, with more than 100 people injured. They were all carried out on busy streets. The attacker is still at large. 
A 39-year-old man was arrested after the latest attack - two bottles of acid thrown into famous Temple Street in Jordan late on Saturday - but police said he was not responsible. However, he was a wanted person and appeared in Eastern Court yesterday charged with theft and forgery.
Catherine Leung Lai-yee, a criminologist at Baptist University, said the attacker was not likely to strike twice in the same area.
'The attacker is vain and gaining gratification from eluding the police,' she said. 'So unless he is able to find security loopholes at previous attack sites, he is not likely to repeat an attack there. He will not risk being caught. If the game is over, he can't have fun any more.' 
Lan Kwai Fong in Central - like Temple Street, Sai Yeung Choi Street South  in Mong Kok and Lockhart Road in Causeway Bay, sites of previous attacks - is busy at night, often packed, and is surrounded by old tenement buildings.
Chan said: 'We may propose installing CCTVs in the area, though there might be concerns about privacy. But in light of the recent attacks, it might be an option.'
He would ask property owners in the area to stay on high alert, but noted that management and security measures in buildings near Lan Kwai Fong were better than in the areas where attacks have been carried out.
Wan Chai district councillor Yolanda Ng Yuen-ting  was also concerned. The council agreed a surveillance system should be installed, possibly in Tai Yuen Street - site of the popular outdoor market - and the bar area. Ng said the council encouraged the installation of security gates on rooftops and cameras at the entrance to buildings.
Sham Shui Po district councillor Vincent Cheng Wing-shun  said the council was waiting for a police report on whether to install an 'eye in the sky' surveillance system in Ap Liu Street. He said police did not recommend it initially because buildings were of uneven height, which would lead to many blind spots.
So far such a surveillance system has only been installed in Sai Yeung Choi Street South.
Some Yau Tsim Mong district councillors questioned the usefulness of such cameras during a meeting yesterday. Chan Wai-keung  said the two sets of four cameras costing HK$1.7 million were not ideal because footage was of poor quality.
'I had a look at the quality but actually I could not identify the face of anybody from the footage,' he said and argued for the installation of ordinary surveillance cameras at the entrances of buildings. 'Each ordinary CCTV only costs a few thousand dollars,' Chan said.  
Superintendent Joseph Yeung Chi-choi  of Kowloon West regional headquarters said the 'eye in the sky' system had a deterrent effect despite poor picture quality and assisted inquiries by narrowing the size of the area under investigation.
District councillor Chung Kong-mo  agreed and said that although blind spots existed and billboards blocked the views of some rooftops, the 'eye in the sky' still covered most rooftops in the precinct.



Spy cams likely for more busy areas