Hong Kong promotes high-tech application in police activities

Traffic on the streets of Hong Kong (China). Photo: Mac Luyen - VNA reporter in Hong Kong

The South China Morning Post reported on July 21 that the Hong Kong Police Force is committed to increasing the application of advanced science and technology to improve crime prevention effectiveness within the framework of a strategy to modernize police operations.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Joe Chow Yat-ming, the head of Hong Kong police, said the force is testing police dog robots in prison cells, expanding drone patrols and installing more surveillance cameras on the streets to boost the application of technology in police operations.

Shortly after taking office in April 2025 to replace Raymond Siu Chak-yee, Mr. Chow identified digital transformation as one of the four strategic directions of the Hong Kong Police Force. He said modern technology is a tool that the police force can exploit to save manpower and improve operational efficiency.

Regarding the police dog robot trial program, Mr. Chow said that the Hong Kong police force is initially conducting tests in detention cells at police headquarters to evaluate the applicability in practice and will expand the deployment of this device for patrol activities in public places and support security tasks at large-scale events in the near future.

Expressing satisfaction with the pilot drone patrol programme, he said that so far, the Hong Kong police force has conducted 31 patrol flights in the West Kowloon area and 197 flights in the northern fringe of the city. In Yau Tsim Mong district alone, the patrols resulted in four cases, including two drug possession cases and two theft cases, with three suspects arrested. The Hong Kong police aim to expand drone patrols to The Peak and Cheung Chau by the end of 2025.

Regarding the SmartView surveillance camera installation project, Joe Chow Yat-ming said the police force still aims to complete the deployment of 2,000 camera clusters across the city by the end of this year. Each cluster consists of about 2 to 3 cameras, equivalent to about 5,000 devices to be installed.

Comparative data between the period before the program was implemented (from the second quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024) and the period from April 2024 to March this year shows that many types of street crimes such as theft, pickpocketing, robbery and intentional injury have decreased significantly, with a reduction of up to 42%.

Mr. Joe Chow Yat-ming said that facial recognition technology is receiving considerable attention from the public. However, the police force has not yet had a specific roadmap for integrating artificial intelligence into the surveillance camera system, and the authorities are still studying the feasibility and potential applications of this technology.

He believes that although technology can help solve the problem of human resources, that does not mean that machines will completely replace humans, affirming that technology and humans are not two separate factors, but need to be harmoniously combined to complement each other, thereby improving the overall efficiency of law enforcement.

According to HAI TRAN/Tin Tuc and Dan Toc Newspaper

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/nhip-song-so/hong-kong-day-manh-ung-dung-cong-nghe-cao-trong-hoat-dong-canh-sat-154524.html