Hong Kong hawker control officers start wearing body cameras to help with checks, with union hoping move will prevent conflicts
- Batch of 200 body cameras distributed to members of Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s 2,000-strong hawker control team, spokesman says
- Union for hygiene staff says he hopes policy will deter ‘residents who overreact to inspections by officers, and even attempt to assault’ officers
Hong Kong’s hawker control officers have started wearing body cameras to help with their checks, with a union leader saying he hoped the move would prevent conflicts with residents “overreacting” to inspections.
A first batch of 200 body cameras was distributed to the members of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s 2,000-strong hawker control team, a union leader revealed on Monday.
The equipment ensured officers could record incidents “when necessary” as part of efforts to “enhance the capability and accuracy of gathering evidence and provide useful information for future investigation work”, according to a department spokesman.
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He said the department had obtained more than 800 body cameras and would review plans to increase distribution after considering their usage.
Au Pong-tim, president of the department’s Staff Rights Union, said: “We expect the cameras will serve as a deterrent for those residents who overreact to inspections by officers and even attempt to assault them.”
He told a radio programme that officers had carried their own personal cameras to protect themselves if a situation became violent, but footage from such devices could not be admitted in court as evidence.
But footage from the new body cameras issued by the department could be used as evidence in a hearing, Au said.
Officers had also been told to use the devices in an “open and transparent manner” by informing people before they started recording an incident.
The government said that footage that had no value as evidence would be deleted after 31 days if no further actions related to a case were pursued.
Some stall owners expressed concerns that the policy could have a negative impact on their business.
A hawker who gave her surname as Chan, who runs a fruit store called Mr Fresh in Wan Chai Market, said she felt like she was under surveillance.
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The 40-year-old said she noticed some officers equipped with body cameras standing opposite her store on Monday morning, with a few customers leaving because they didn’t want to be recorded.
Another fruit store owner at Bowrington Road Market in Causeway Bay, who gave her surname as Leung, said she was concerned the policy could result in her being penalised.
“Sometimes we just extend the shop front a few inches. If they film my shop all the time, I could suffer a lot [from the measure],” said the 55-year-old, who has run her store for 12 years.
The issuing of body cameras to hawker control officers started ahead of plans to increase fines for littering and illegal shopfront extensions during the last quarter of this year. A bill for the policy completed its second reading at the Legislative Council in May.
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Under the coming policy, the fixed fine for litter will rise from HK$1,500 to HK$3,000, while the penalty for illegal shopfront extensions will be quadrupled to HK$6,000.
Last year, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department issued about 47,000 fixed penalty notices for public cleanliness offences, in addition to some 16,000 fixed penalty notices over obstruction of public places, including shop front extensions.
The department also recorded 38 cases of hygiene officers being assaulted last year, including 25 incidents involving its hawker control team.
During the first two months of this year, three of four cases of hygiene officers being assaulted involved members of the hawker control team.
