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The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) said on Thursday that the Commissioner of Police has appointed a batch of officers of the Correctional Services Department (CSD) as special constables to enhance manpower of the police amid worsening social unrest.
The appointment was made in accordance with section 40 of the Public Order Ordinance, said a spokesman for the HKSAR government in a statement. "To arrange appropriate officers of other disciplined services to share part of and participate in the police's work would help strengthen the manpower and strength of the police," he said.
"The ongoing riots over the past few months, with their massive scale, simultaneous occurrence in various districts and grave severity of violence, make it necessary to strengthen the support for the police's front-line officers," the spokesman explained.
The newly appointed team, which is a pilot scheme, comprises not more than 100 CSD officers, who are familiar with the use of anti-riot equipment, according to the statement.
The CSD officers will be temporarily deployed to the police on a part-time basis to work as special constables and will be mainly responsible for guarding government premises, said the spokesman, adding that their duties include carrying out anti-riot operations and handling of emergencies.
The HKSAR government does not rule out possibility of appointing officers of other local disciplined services as special constables in the future to ease the burden of the police, depending on police's manpower needs and how the situation develops, the spokesman added.
