SAMUEL CHANsamuel.chan@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Monday, 12 October, 2015, 1:47pm
UPDATED : Monday, 12 October, 2015, 1:49pm
The IPCC has advised police to remind officers in districts frequented by tourists, such as Tsim Sha Tsui, to make extra effort to conclude investigations quickly. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
The police watchdog has slammed the force for a lack of vigilance in granting bail to two mainland Chinese tourists accused of fighting with a Hong Kong tour guide, saying the pair absconded while the guide’s bail was “unnecessarily” extended.
The tour guide filed a report to the police’s internal Complaints Against Police Office (Capo) after learning that a passer-by who tried to intervene in the incident had been released, while her bail period of one-month was extended five times after her arrest in April 2012.
She accused the police inspector in charge of the case of neglect of duty and alleged the officer had extended her bail without justification.
After investigation, Capo classified the allegation as “no fault” on the grounds that the decision to release the passer-by and to extend the complainant’s bail while continuing to seek the return of the two mainland Chinese tourists was “fair and reasonable”.
However, Capo later changed its findings after the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) said the repeated extensions of the complainant’s bail were “not justified” because there was no new evidence that could have been obtained, even with the arrests of the mainland tourists, and therefore the extension of bail was not necessary.
According to police procedures, if a bailee answers police bail and there is insufficient evidence to support a charge, he or she should be released unconditionally.
The police watchdog considered the complaint should be classified as “substantiated” and Capo then endorsed the IPCC’s finding.
The IPCC said it had advised police to remind officers in districts frequented by tourists, such as Tsim Sha Tsui, to make extra effort to conclude investigations quickly in cases involving visitors and be extra careful when granting bail.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1866547/hong-kong-police-watchdog-slams-force-granting-bail
