Watchdog Pleased With Police Improvement Efforts

The police watchdog said on Tuesday it's pleased with the force's efforts to follow up with all of the 52 recommendations it made after the social unrest in 2019.

In a meeting with the Independent Police Complaints Council, officers said they had rolled out 78 improvement measures, with the latest ones including providing extra guidelines on using weapons like tear gas and enhancing training for officers to handle riots.

The council's chairperson, Priscilla Wong, said after the meeting that the police had paid a lot of effort into following up on the suggestions.

"The police have been doing a lot of field work, trying to explain to us what work they were undertaking and what improvements they were going to introduce, so... yes, we are pleased to see the feedback we have received and all 52 suggestions have been addressed," she said.

Separately, the council said it had substantiated four more protest-related allegations, raising the total number to 23.

It said one involved an officer forgetting to notify the complainant who had made a report regarding the mob attack in Yuen Long in July 2019 of the case number. The other three had to do with impoliteness.

The council said the officers had been given verbal advice.