Protest Probe Within Our Remit, IPCC Tells Court

The Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) has told the High Court that the watchdog can look into matters that are beyond its function of monitoring how the police department handles complaints filed against the force.

Rejecting an argument that the IPCC has gone beyond its powers by looking into the anti-government protests last year, the counsel for the watchdog said it had previously undertaken such tasks.

The IPCC has looked into matters that were not matters reported to the Complaints Against Police Office (Capo), the counsel said, citing a case in 2009, when police used civilian vehicles as roadblocks during a car chase on the Kwun Tong Bypass.

This came as the court wrapped up its hearing of a judicial review filed by activist Hendrick Lui, who said the IPCC does not have the power to initiate a probe into the unrest on its own and it could only review reports made by Capo.

Lui’s counsel said the IPCC "cannot be turned into some form of a police oversight council" reviewing matters on its own.

He also said it would be procedurally unfair for the IPCC to look into cases on its own, before they are referred to Capo, since that would risk having two different conclusions on the same matter.

But the IPCC's lawyer argued that there is no such risk because what the watchdog has been doing is just listing the events chronologically in a broad overview, rather than investigations of specific reportable complaints.

The hearing was conducted through video-conferencing, with lawyers speaking from their chambers.

Judge Keith Yeung said it was conducted in a smooth manner, and he will hand down his judgement at a later date.

The IPCC has delayed its interim report on the unrest, citing this judicial review case. It was originally due in December.

The government has long argued that the IPCC's report is a better way to review alleged police brutality, rather than setting up an independent commission of inquiry as demanded by protesters and many legal scholars.