Hong Kong police force set for manpower boost after shortcomings exposed by Occupy
Hush-hush plan would see 500 new posts used to strengthen units that manage public order after pro-democracy sit-ins exposed limitations
Hong Kong's police force looks set to get its biggest single injection of manpower in years with the addition of 500 new officer posts - in a move primarily aimed at strengthening the specialist unit that handles public order events.
Security sources have told the that a hush-hush proposal put together by force management - which has been given the green light by the Security Bureau - would see 500 new positions added to the force's current "establishment" of 28,726, the majority of which would be used to boost the Police Tactical Unit (PTU) which at present had 2,000 officers.
News of the manpower boost plan is likely to reignite the debate over how the police handled last year's Occupy Central protests, the unprecedented nature of which split the city, stretched the force and exposed shortcomings at the sharp end of its public order operations.
To cope with the size of the protests, officers had to be drafted from units across Hong Kong.
One source with knowledge of the move told the that between 250 and 300 of the new posts would go towards creating two new PTU companies whose primary task would be the policing of public order events. The source added that the plan had been put together "very quietly" due its sensitive nature.
"There really is a concerted effort to keep the whole thing hidden," the source said. "Occupy certainly showed up a number of deficiencies in the PTU [including] significant staff shortages at both officer level and among the rank and file," said the source.
