Hongkongers have raised five demands in their protest movement, including for an independent inquiry into police conduct. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has been reluctant to set up an independent commission of inquiry, arguing that the Independent Police Complaints Council can do the job. To enhance the IPCC’s integrity, the government hired five international experts to form an advisory panel. In fact, they were carefully chosen: they are pro-establishment, and highly reputable in the field of police policy within the common law system. They were supposed to support the government. However, things haven’t quite gone according to plan. First, one expert, Clifford Stott, unilaterally released the panel’s progress report on Twitter, following a meeting with the IPCC. The report was blunt about “a shortfall in IPCC powers, capacity and independent investigative capability”. Ultimately, the experts decided to quit rather than face allegations that they colluded with the IPCC in writing a pointless so-called interim report on the police handling of the protests. However, IPCC chairman Anthony Neoh could not even admit the experts had quit. According to him, they left because their job was done. However, it would seem to be more a case of the IPCC refusing to incorporate most of the experts’ advice into the report, which included giving the body more investigative powers to probe allegations of police brutality during the six months of protests. To win over Hong Kong, Xi’s China must break a 2,000-year tradition Clearly, Lam is trying to buy herself more time , and the IPCC interim report serves this purpose. The police watchdog has no teeth and is unable to prosecute any officers. Anyway, who wants to clean up after the government? Many question whether a just and fair investigation can be carried out when police are handling complaints against themselves. Hongkongers are fed up , and no one is going to trust the IPCC any more. Michael Tien Puk-sun, a pro-establishment lawmaker, has proposed beefing up the police watchdog. It should be empowered like the Independent Commission Against Corruption , which has investigative and prosecutorial capability. In the past, the IPCC was at least monitored by pro-democracy members like Eric Cheung Tat-ming, Joseph Lee Kok-long, Christine Fang Meng-sang, Helena Wong Pik-wan and myself. But since former chief executive Leung Chun-ying kicked out the democrats, it has lost credibility. How the pan-democrats can score a bigger win in 2022 At the first IPCC meeting after the resignation of the experts, Neoh said it was up to society to decide whether to expand the IPPC’s powers. He announced that there would be a first interim report on the events of June 9 , June 12 and July 1 . Subsequent reports would cover incidents on July 21 , August 11 and August 31 , as well as at the San Uk Ling Holding Centre . However, most of the content of the reports would be factual; there would be little, if any, analysis and feedback. In the past months, the IPCC has received 1,404 protest-related complaints from 4,720 complainants. Of these, 500 are reportable cases, including battery, abuse of power and fabrication of evidence . However, 61 complaints have been put on hold as they are related to cases under investigation. Police have submitted preliminary reports on 74 of these complaints, but only to classify two-thirds of them as withdrawn and the last third as untraceable. How can the public trust such a system? Fine then, let’s disband Hong Kong’s police force Hongkongers should not pin their hopes on the government setting up an independent commission of inquiry. Rather, a constructive way forward would be for the community to establish a system to monitor police conduct. The democrats could make the most of their victory in the district council elections and exert maximum pressure on the government. Given that they have taken control of 17 of the 18 district councils, they could form an alliance, push for the five demands and fight for livelihood and other issues such as transport, environment and urban planning. The district councils could set up their own investigation committees and handle complaints against the police. Councillors could demand that police submit reports on the complaints, and push the government to prosecute those found to have abused their position. They could also boost the credibility of their investigation committees by inviting former IPCC members to join them. It would be tough getting the government and police to cooperate, but if the district-level inquiries have the backing of Hongkongers, in the long run, the government may well have to start listening and taking action against police brutality. Albert Cheng King-hon is a political commentator