Safety from Crime “Down the Tubes” in Hong Kong
| Author | Y. F. Wong |
| Date | 01 July 1985 |
| Published date | 01 July 1985 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8505800312 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Y. F. Wong Information Officer to the Hong Kong Government Office
SAFETY
FROM
CRIME "DOWN
THE
TUBES" IN HONG KONG
Criminals just loathe Hong Kong's underground railway.
And with good reason. Almost everything about the territory's six-year-
old Mass Transit Railway, is positively repulsive to criminal activity.
Yet, there could have been vast crime potential in a system which, in terms
of passenger density per kilometre of track, is by far the world's busiest.
On a normal day, the MTR carries 1-2million people. But this isexpected
to soar soon to two millions per day.
"The police were on the planning stages of Hong Kong's underground
project very early on, so we were able to design-out the potential crime
trouble spots. And it works, we've proved it," explains the Commander of
the MTR district of the Royal Hong Kong Police, Superintendent Jamie
Clements.
"Our
underground's crime scene is very petty and very, very low."
To demonstrate, he points to the wall charts in his headquarters at
Kowloon Bay, which are drawn to an astonishingly small scale in order to
produce anything visible at all. The column graph representing petty thefts
of MTR equipment for the month looms largest.
It
looks sinister - but it
represents only five cases.
In 1984,well
over413,OOO,OOO
people used the railway and there were213
cases of crime. Ofthese, 129 were solved - giving a detection date of 60.6%.
In contrast to underground rail systems in many parts of the world, a
passenger entering one of Hong Kong's 25 tube stations immediately feels
safe. They all look safe, and it is reassuring to know that they are safe.
For a start, they are spacious, brightly-lit, and so painstakingly
maintained that, six years down theline, they stilllook brand new. There are
no black spots; blind spots, or niches where anyone can hide. The sleek,
air-conditioned carriages are open-ended, giving unimpaired visibility from
one end of the trains to the other. The stainless steel seats are vandal-proof.
Moreover, there are no public toilets in the system,no left-luggage lockers,
and no food stalls where eating is allowed. The kiosks on stations are all
constructed as small, standard modules and parked flush with the walls.
Close supervision is made of the types of business allowed and there is a
ceiling on the amounts of cash they are permitted to hold at any time.
"There is simply no reason for anyone to be hanging around down there,"
said Mr. Clements."The MTR enables peopleto go from A to Bas quickly as
possible, and that's what they do."
Certainly, the atmosphere is businesslike and brisk. This, in itself, has led
to the bonus detection of a type of illegal activity not directly connected with
the railway's operation - illegal immigrants, mostly from China.
Last year, the
MTR
Police caught 56 illegal immigrants from China.
"Most were caught trying to put money into the automatic turnstiles, which
take only tickets," said Mr. Clements. "They look so out of place as they try
to operate the modern machinery. Standing among Hong Kong's
sophisticated crowds, they just don't fit."
Response time for the Police to any incident is an almost miraculous 60
seconds - maximum - on a station, or two and a half minutes if the officer
has to come by train from another station.
July 1985 265
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