Crime chief Stephen Lo moves up the chain of command

Police high-flier Stephen Lo Wai-chung, who is tipped to take over command of the 28,000-strong force, has moved one step closer to the top job.

Lo, who is now Senior Assistant Commissioner, will replace the deputy commissioner (operations), Xavier Tang Kam-moon, who will retire on Tuesday. Tang reached retirement age in February, but his term was extended.

The 51-year-old Lo is widely tipped to succeed commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung who has about two more years before retirement.

Lo joined the force as an inspector in 1984 and was seconded to the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon, France, between 1999 and 2002. He was promoted from a liaison officer to an assistant director of Interpol's Asia and South Pacific branch.

Before taking up his current post as director of crime and security in 2011, he was the deputy regional commander of Kowloon West region in 2007, and assistant commissioner (security) in 2009.

Lo is understood to have spent most of his 29 years in the force doing criminal investigation, and has worked in the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau.