SCMP Hong KongToday, 4:01 PM
Steve Hui, with his cartoon figure during the police force’s launch of its Facebook page, in Wan Chai. Photo: Bruce Yan
Time to say goodbye to ‘four o’clock Hui Sir’. Chief superintendent Steve Hui Chun-tak is leaving the police force’s public relations bureau next month, and will longer be the icon of its Facebook page.
A police source said Hui would be transferred to Sham Shui Po as district commander and would leave the PR bureau in mid-December after leading the bureau for almost two years. The source did not state the reason for the move and stated it was a common arrangement for the force.
The source also said Hui would no longer appear on the police’s Facebook page, and declined to reveal further arrangements regarding the page on news of Hui’s leaving.
The police force launched its official Facebook page on October 5, aspiring to improve its communications with the public by posting a variety of clips.
The page also featured a “4 o’clock news channel” programme bearing an animated avatar of Hui. It explained to internet users that Facebook was not the most appropriate place to discuss the progression of police cases and that inappropriate comments would be deleted.
Less than one day after its launch, the page attracted some 10,000 likes. It was also flooded with more than 70,000 comments, many of them containing obscenities.
Hui was promoted to the post of chief superintendent in March last year and appointed as the head of the public relations bureau.
He became well-known during last year’s Occupy movement, when he gave daily televised updates on police efforts at 4pm. Hui’s polite and friendly presentation style during the press conferences were well-liked by much of the public, earning him the nickname ‘four o’clock Hui Sir’.
His signature catchphrase, “I will now recap in English”, became an object of both affection and scorn as he routinely repeated his Cantonese-language briefings in English during his 4pm press conferences.
The police source said Hui would be succeeded by Au Chin-chau, chief superintendent of the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau. Au's experience includes high-profile cases such as the attack on veteran journalist Kevin Lau Chun-to in February last year and a bomb plot at the former ATV studio complex in June this year.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1885203/no-more-recaps-hong-kong-police-spokesman-who-found-fame
