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In aftermath of Hong Kong protests, top cop’s biggest challenge is fighting police smears amid rising crime rate
- Bogus claims demonising officers affect enforcement efforts, breed lawlessness, commissioner says
- No let up on probing protests, as investigators comb through evidence to track down wrongdoers
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On November 3, construction worker Poon Yung-wai was sentenced to 160 hours of community service for spreading rumours online that police officers molested and raped women held at the San Uk Ling Holding Centre during last year’s social unrest.
The 38-year-old admitted he made up the stories he posted on Facebook between September 19 and 21 last year, and became the first person prosecuted over provocative social media posts since anti-government protests erupted in June last year.
Prosecutors accused him of inciting others to besiege the holding centre. Convicting him, magistrate Peony Wong Nga-yan said his offences were serious.
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Hong Kong’s crime rate has skyrocketed over the past year, but police have had to deal with a surge in attacks on the integrity of the force itself, through rumours, false accusations and widely circulated clips that allege wrongdoing by officers.
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One year into his job as commissioner of police, Chris Tang Ping-keung told the Post that tackling smears against his officers and refuting false information had become a daily task and the force’s biggest challenge.
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