Community Policing in Hong Kong

Abstract

Originating in Britain and the USA, community policing has been a growth industry internationally. However, studies have shown the model to be problematic, and questioned whether it is transplantable to other societies without regard to their different environmental contexts. This article provides a case study of community policing initiatives undertaken in Hong Kong from the 1970s to today, showing that they have largely failed, and have dim future prospects. In explaining why this is the case, it is argued that these initiatives have not only been bedeviled by factors which have proven so troublesome for the community policing model elsewhere, but also by the socio-cultural ethos of Hong Kong’s population, the territory’s unique political and economic position and the institutionalization of the Hong Kong Police’s paramilitary traditions. The study not only provides a further illustration of the questionable nature of the community policing model, but also illustrates how and why policy making should always take into account local conditions instead of simply borrowing foreign models.