Hong Kong protests: more than 8,000 complaints made against police but force says many people were mobilised online
- Force’s internal Complaints Against Police Office has so far filed 242 reports to the independent watchdog
- Full investigations have been conducted into 55 complaints, resulting in two officers receiving a reprimand for using inappropriate language
The force’s internal Complaints Against Police Office (Capo) has so far filed 242 reports to the independent watchdog.
Of the 242 cases handed over to the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC), full investigations were conducted into 55, resulting in two officers getting reprimanded for using inappropriate language during protest dispersal actions last year.
Of the rest, 98 cases were classed as complaints withdrawn, 82 were considered not pursuable, and seven were “informally resolved” – a practice that usually applies to minor issues.
Critics accused both bodies of dragging their feet on their investigations, saying it was unconvincing that so few officers were found to have misbehaved during the months-long unrest.
Chief Superintendent Tammy Mak Wai-man, of the force’s complaints and internal investigations branch, said a problem with looking into cases was that some complainants could not be contacted.
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“We will continue to look into the complaints in a fair, just and serious manner,” she told an IPCC meeting on Tuesday.
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In all, 8,120 people complained to Capo about the force’s handling of the protests. Police categorised them into 1,833 cases, as some complaints involved the same incidents.
About half of the people used the same online template to complain about 12 incidents.
“They were not involved in those incidents. They made complaints based on media reports, what they saw on the internet,” Mak said, adding that some could not even provide the date, time and location of the events.
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Seven people made a total of 603 “notifiable complaints”, a category that means they either filed their grievances anonymously or they were not directly affected by police actions.
Among complaints, there were 904 accusations of misconduct, 190 of assault and 285 about unnecessary use of power. Others involved categories such as impoliteness.
Icarus Wong Ho-yin, convenor of the Civil Rights Observer group, said the investigations had taken too long.
“The whole police complaints mechanism is ineffective in such a way that it has failed to resolve the public’s doubts and anger at problems that have arisen during the [protest] movement,” he said.
On this, IPCC vice-chairman Tony Tse Wai-chuen said Stott’s remarks were regrettable and questioned what his comments were based on.
