The events in the past two months has revealed a lot about many individuals and organizations in Hong Kong. Hong Kongers have learned that their image of them was an illusion. In particular, respect towards the Hong Kong Police Force has taken a tumble and it is mostly of their own making.
Under Police Protocol, officers have to reveal their identification when performing searches, making arrests, writing parking tickets or confronting criminals. (How else can others know that they are genuine officers and not any random person wearing prop from a movie set or uniform bought from an auction site?) Recently it has become commonplace for officers to conduct operation without wearing any identification or covering their police ID. When the press asked for an explanation, officials claimed there was "no room" on the uniform for identification. Were the officers wearing revealing swimwear? Of course not.
The Police produces a weekly TV programme which, in addition to encourage Hong Kongers to provide crime tips and providing guides on avoiding scam, aims to project a positive image of the Force. In recent weeks, however, many officers have become adversarial towards reports and camera crew, assuming that they are on the side of the protesters — officers were captured on film shouting curses, demanding camera crew to stop filming, and firing tear gas/rubber bullets at members of the press.
One expects the Police to avoid getting bystanders involved when conducting an operation and not to enter private property unless the owner requested or the property itself is a crime scene. So when hundreds of officers stormed a busy shopping mall (under the pretense of arresting demonstrators at a nearby protest) without warning, chaos naturally ensued. While inside the mall, they seemed to have no idea what to do and strike at random. They even fired tear gas — indoors.
While recent operations must have been very stressful for officers, many seem to have trouble keeping their cool. When doctors and nurses at a hospital complain the police's presence at the emergency room, the police responded by closing down the hospital's police post. This felt like a act of pouting children, not the professionals they profess to be. Would they find doctors choosing which patients to treat acceptable? What would they think if teachers at their children's school decide not to teach their children because they are police officers?
The tactics adopted by the commanders were simply baffling. On the night when protesters broke into the Legislature building, the Police was nowhere to be found and no barrier was set up to stop the protesters. That was in stark contrast to earlier in the day, when the building was barricaded and heavily guarded by officers. A similar set up was observed when protesters pelted and spray painted the Chinese Liaison office. Were these oversights by high-level police officers or did officers allow the events to happen? After the police rejected a request to hold a march, tens of thousands still turned up. Officers, trying to disperse the crowd, fired tear gas rounds in the residential area. Have the idea of tear gas affecting nearby residents crossed the officers' minds?
Perhaps the public would be more fair-minded towards the police if officers treat the offenders from different camps equally. The problem is that the police gives the opposition heavy-handed treatment and treats the pro-government law-breakers with kid gloves. Officers often detain apparent opposition protesters with great haste while letting pro-government individuals who attacked reporters and passers-by walk away. The events on the night of July 21 is a great illustration of that.
On that night, protesters vandalized the Chinese Liaison Office and occupied the streets in the neighbourhood. 5000 officers were deployed in response. During the confrontation the protesters strike at armoured-officers with umbrellas, shields made of cardboard and bamboo sticks. (To be fair, the protesters should have been more restrained.) The police responded by firing tear gas, rubber bullets and beanbag rounds. At around the same time in the other side of the city, triad members attacked anyone they perceived to be protesters at a train station with canes and iron bars. The police arrived at the scene after the thugs have left. The thugs returned after officers left. Worse, the press has uncovered CCTV footage from nearby stores showing patrol cars passing a park where triad members with weapons gathered multiple times and did nothing. The officers appeared to investigate the attack with indifference and lack of effort. Many Hong Kongers have developed an impression that the Police are colluding with triads and it will be difficult to shed that image.
One wished that officers acting badly is a minority, but the Police unions' stance suggests otherwise. The unions went ballistic, issuing strongly-worded letters criticizing the Chief Secretary, the boss of Secretary for Security, who is the boss of the Police Commissioner, when he apologized to Hong Kongers for the way the Police handled the thugs' attack described above. Officers wrote letter demanding an apology from the Chief Secretary. A few days later, he backed down. When chambers of commerce, business groups and politicians normally siding with the government and even civil servants demanded an independent inquiry investigating the recent events, the unions remain opposed. To paraphrase a statement often uttered by the supporters of the police, why fear an independent inquiry if you have done nothing wrong?
Surely there are many officers who find their colleagues' recent behaviour unacceptable. Don't let the bad apples among you, no matter how numerous, tarnish your image. You don't deserve to be called "corrupt cops" by Hong Kongers, the very people you are supposed to protect. To the officers who think they can get away from anything as long as they serve their master, be it the Chief Executive or Beijing, remember that your supposedly masters will abandon you as used pawns if it is convenient to them.