• by IPS Correspondents (hong kong)
• Thursday, December 15, 1994
• Inter Press Service

HONG KONG, Dic 15 (IPS) - Jonathan Morgan, Andrew McGrenra and Paul Rait are just about to begin their careers as police officers in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, but their arrival here this week marks the end of another colonial tradition.

The three young men are the last trainee Hong Kong police officers to be recruited in Britain before the British colony reverts to Chinese rule in 1997.

In less than three years, the force will shed its 'Royal' title, change its crown insignia on caps, lapels and buttons, and swear a new oath of allegiance to its Chinese masters.

In preparation, the Hong Kong police force has been undergoing 'localisation' in recent years, and local officers are being put on the career fast-track and prepared for top posts.

But while there will be no new British recruits after this year, many of the 700 or so existing expat officers in a force of 26,000 will continue to serve after 1997. Even the three fresh trainees, who are all in their 20s, express hope that they would stay on after the handover.

"It's like looking into a crystal ball over the future of Hong Kong" said McGrenra, 24, who beat thousands of other British applicants for the Hong Kong job. "But really, I don't believe it is going to change a great deal."

Although about half of the most senior officers on permanent pensionable terms are expected to leave the force and take early retirement before 1997, more than 200 expat officers have just signed new three-year contracts that which will take them beyond 1997. Another 200 are expected to extend till the year 2000.

Says a senior officer: "There is reason to believe that almost all of them will stay on and that will be a huge boost."

Authorities have been worried that a massive exodus of officers in the run-up to 1997 could destabilise the force at a crucial time in the colony's history.

Although it now seems unlikely that any major unrest will break out at the time of the handover, the police maintain it is important to ensure that the ranks are not depleted just when keeping peace and order becomes top priority in Hong Kong.

Authorities hope the expat officers will follow the lead of Chief Inspector Robin Jolly who says: "I have always been determined that I wanted to stay."

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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