Police Without ID 'approved By Management'

Civil Rights Observer said on Friday that police management should be held accountable for failing to require some officers to display their identification numbers in anti-government protests last year after the High Court ruled that the practice breached the Bill of Rights.

Its spokesman Icarus Wong said senior members of the force might have directly given the green light – or offered tacit approval – to officers not to show any identification during the protests between June and October last year until the police launched another type of identification, namely the operational call signs.

The rights group, which monitors the police use of power, made it clear the force needs to rectify the issue.

As for the court ruling that suggested that the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) lacks the necessary investigative powers of its own, a member of the council, Clement Chan, said he's open to improving how the body reviews complaints against officers, for example by initiating complaints on its own.

Chan also pointed out that the IPCC has the power to ask the Complaints Against Police Office to re-investigate certain cases.

He said under the existing mechanism, the IPCC could even bring cases to the police commissioner and the Chief Executive. But Chan admitted that has not happened during his time at the body.

A former IPCC member, Eric Cheung, said that two or three cases were passed onto the CE during his tenure, but the reports hadn't been dealt with and the CE had just responded by saying, "report received, thanks".

Cheung, also a legal scholar, said he agrees with the need to boost the IPCC's power so that it can start investigations into serious complaints.