tim's experiment

Some months ago the Hong Kong Journalists Association published a carefully researched and reasoned complaint, that the police publicity machinery was not working. Incidents which could and should have been reported promptly in the press were being delayed in the PR pipeline until they were no longer of interest. The HKJA’s complaint landed with a soundless plop in the deep well of public indifference. No politicians took up the matter, official spokesmen denied there was a problem. End of story, we all thought, at least until a noteworthy specimen comes along. This has now happened.
Actually the HKJA was quite right. The system has changed. In the old days police activities were not announced by the police PR Bureau, though that organisation is quite large. News organisations illegally eavesdropped on the police radio channel. As some newspapers also had radio-controlled cars waiting on the street for interesting photographic opportunities they frequently arrived at the scene of some newsworthy incident at the same time as the emergency people, if not before. Under these circumstances there was no question of newsworthy items going unreported. Reporters generally questioned the emergency services men at the scene. Neither the police nor the reporters used the police PR people, who as a result all developed other ways of using up their time.

Then the police radios switched to a new system, in which the signals are encoded. Listening in is no longer possible. So unless the police wish to publicise an event they can sit on it while a typed report makes its way through the system, leading eventually to a copy appearing on a desk in the PR department, where they are all already busy doing other things. This is not a plot, just a natural result of changing from the old way of doing things to a new piece of technology. In the last week the results have become clear.

First we had the case of the man who was going around stabbing people at random. Nobody was warned about this interesting new hazard. No announcement was made until — days later —  a suspect was arrested. This was followed by a similar case involving a man who was molesting children. Again nothing was made public for days. Clearly the system is broken. Officers actually involved in the cases sounded as apologetic as they are allowed to be under the present regime, in which the word “sorry” is banned. This is an unsatisfactory situation, and not just from the public safety point of view. A force which is allowed to use lethal force on the public’s behalf cannot expect to be allowed to operate in secret. It should expect, indeed it should welcome, continuing scrutiny. The extent and nature of the problem are now clear. Whether anything will be done about it remains to be seen.