Hong Kong Police anecdotes

Okay, I will try out this rather innocuous anecdote which goes back to the mid 1980's.

During the 1980’s large numbers of Vietnamese boat people arrived in Hong Kong as economic migrants. This placed a great strain on the security forces and one of the problems arising from operational work was that many units could not communicate with each other on a common radio network.

Government quickly realised that this needed to be remedied and funds were provided to build a brand new radio network for the disciplined services – Police, Volunteers, Immigration, Customs, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, Army and Auxiliary Air Force.

One component of this project was the creation of a brand new radio repeater station at Shek Uk Shan hilltop. There was no road access to this important hilltop so the Commander of the Royal Air Force agreed that his contribution to the project would be to provide helicopter support to fly up all the materials and manpower required to build the place.

The final phase was to clear up the site and remove all unwanted materials. On the last day of inspection (for project handover) the involved parties met on site and a very worried looking contractor advised everybody that he did not know how to get rid of the cement mixer.

Some thought was given to pushing it down the hill side, but that would have brought complaints. A remedy was soon found. Arrangements were made for a Royal Air Force helicopter to airlift it out so this was done. No one seemed to have briefed the pilot about the drop down position for the mixer so using his own initiative he flew over to Tuen Mun new town and circled around for a while.

He finally spotted a public car park with a gap between two cars. The cement mixer was duly lowered into the parking place and the winch man went down, unhooked the carrying strops, and returned to the safety of the aircraft. It then flew off and as far as anyone knows the cement mixer is still there.

Kadoorie Avenue is situated in Kowloon City and is the very quiet home to many posh residences. The area sits on a large knoll and this elevation makes it reasonably immune from traffic hum. In the ordinary course of life little crime occurs here unless some petty thief decides to take himself to the area to try a variety of crimes such as burglary, robbery, theft and handbag snatching.

In the late 1970’s crime in Kadoorie Avenue and its small side roads suddenly increased so police patrols were particularly alert. At weekends a police dog handler was also thrown into the patrol area to increase the visible police presence.

One Sunday evening just as the sun was setting the police dog handler was walking along the avenue when he was suddenly alerted by a woman screaming robbery and throwing her hands in the area. Just a little further beyond her the handler could see someone running off at high speed.

This situation required a fast reaction so the Alsatian was let off its leash and with a few code words from the handler it set off at high speed in pursuit of the culprit. The dog was quite a healthy and young and its delight in going after the real thing instead of trundling along on a lead seemed to invigorate it.

The handler then saw the dog take a flying leap into the air and grab an arm close to the wrist. On arrival at the scene the dog handler had a bit of a problem on his hands because the dog had well and truly grabbed the wrist of a well heeled lady resident of the area while the bag snatcher got clean away.

So there you have it, human beings make mistakes and so do police dogs. 

I remember this very clearly.

The American sailors on Rest and Recreation (R&R) leave have at least two interests when they are in port – beer and women - or the other way around if you prefer. The American 6^th Fleet sailed into Hong Kong for R&R in the mid 1980’s and there were Americans all over the town.

The old China Fleet Club in Arsenal Street had been closed for redevelopment and a temporary China Fleet Club had been established in the Sun Hung Kei Centre which is located on the waterfront not far from the old Wanchai Police Station. It was well patronized and the sights of well drunk sailors staggering out of the Club at any time of the day up until about mid afternoon when the ‘girlie’ bars opened, were quite a sight to behold.

Not all of them got into that state however, and on the ground floor there was a Park’n Shop supermarket and a McDonalds so they could at least get some sort of food and drink even if it was not exactly ‘healthy’ food.

One sailor went into the supermarket and bought himself a large bottle of washing up liquid and then went back outside to join his friends who were sitting on the edge of a very decorative fountain just outside the lift entrance to the China Fleet Club. Without making a show of what he was doing he carefully unscrewed the top off the bottle, laid it on its side next to his hip and very gently discharged the entire contents into the fountain where the water moves quite slowly.

Nobody noticed what he was doing and he picked up his plastic supermarket bag (containing the now empty washing liquid bottle) and casually idled along the pavement to take a look at the shipping activity in the harbour.

You can guess what happened. The fountain jets create a decorative fine mist type spray and as the water was already at an ambient temperature of 28⁰ C day and night the entire thing generated a huge amount of foam.

The entire fountain disappeared from sight as did half the pavement. Of course the culprit was never traced, but it just goes to show that for the expenditure of $10 a spectacle attracting scores of people can be generated in a very short time. 

Is anybody reading these anecdotes? Here is another tame one.

One pleasant Sunday evening (circa 1970) Inspector Dave W was sitting down at the Police Post desk in the old Kaitak airport terminal when the telephone rang. “CP here”, said the voice.

 Dave had worked at the airport for many months and had become used to talking in abbreviations like everyone else. He paused for a moment and then enquired from this joker at the other end,” are you Cathay Pacific, Canadian Pacific or something else?”

 The person at the other end announced, “I am something else, I am the Commissioner of Police!”

 It was Charles Sutcliffe.

These were the good old days when mobile telephones and air conditioning did not exist. This anecdote is not exclusive to the police but is a snapshot of the era.

Automatic refills on the Kowloon to Canton Railway

During the 1970’s the Kowloon to Canton railway operated diesel electric trains on the Hong Kong section of the line. They pulled goods trains as well a passenger coaches and one had to plan on spending at least half a day traveling between the Tsim Sha Tsui terminus and Sheung Shui railway station. The acceleration of the diesels was so slow that someone in a wheel chair could have won a 100 metre race against the locomotive.

The carriages were heavy and well built and in the summer the windows remained open for ventilation even when going through tunnels. At the end of each carriage was a platform with steps for alighting and the coupling to interconnect the following carriage. First class was available and offered cushioned seats instead of rattan seats as in other classes.

It was common to find various hawkers working their way up and down the train and some sold various beers, others soft drinks and various forms of dry snack food to suit the Chinese palate.

The Chinese man selling beer was a clever man. He knew exactly who travelled on the train every day, where they sat and what they drank, and the rate at which they drank. After buying the first tin of San Miguel beer one could be absolutely certain that as the last drops were passing down ones throat he would be standing next to the seat just as the empty tin was being placed on the table. It was an excellent service and a comfortable one at that.

These days the railway runs modern electric trains which have good acceleration and air-conditioning and an infernal public address system. This thing is perpetually throwing out corporate apologies for the most trivial matter and bombarding the ear drums with messages indicating that passengers are prohibited from drinking, eating, smoking, sitting on the floor, carrying explosives, dogs, cats, ducks, and just about anything else one can think of.  The old days were much more comfortable.

PTU Vehicle Radios

Every year in the May to June period the airstreams over South China and Vietnam become very unstable as the seasons change. Thunder storms and heavy rain are a byproduct.

One day circa April to May 1972, yours truly Dave W was in his PTU platoon Landrover on Route TWSK and the Platoon Network radio was switched on.

Suddenly the radio crackled into life and an American voice came out of the loudspeaker asking “Where do want it”? There was a bit more talk which I cannot remember anymore but at the end of it we established that it was a Phantom fighter bomber pilot operating somewhere over South Vietnam asking a ground controller where to drop the bomb load.

Conversation with a High Court Judge

When one is in the presence of members of the Judiciary at a cocktail party, the first rule (and only rule) is that one must never talk ‘shop’. It is verboten!

Having been self educated in how to behave at cocktail parties I had – over the years – developed a standard line of asking people what their hobby’s were and somehow developing the reply into a conversation that most people would wish to talk about.

So it was that I asked this precise question of a High Court Judge. “I collect old rope”, was the reply. “Old rope”, says I. “Yes, old rope says he.” Well on went this most unusual conversation and I enquired how he documented it all. It transpired that he kept very short samples in trays with a short note to explain what it was.

He knew rope inside and out and explained that when on long leave he would find great peace of mind ambling over a beach picking up bits and pieces that were of some interest. It was one of the most fascinating cocktail party discussions I have ever had.

More anecdotes to come. I shall try one a day for a while.

For the benefit of interested readers I have established that I have between 40 ~ 45 anecdotes that should be acceptable for printing. At one a day the run will be for about six weeks.

I have no intention of writing a book to include them as I am still busy working on a book I started 25 years ago and self published in 2004.

Quite a few retired Hong Kong police officers visit this site and I suspect they will continue where I leave off. If some body could assemble all of these anecdotes into a film script they would make a fortune.

For Annelisec the unprintable anecdotes really are unprintable because many of the guilty are still alive and some still live in Hong Kong. Eat your heart out baby!

I am fairly sure that these anecdotes will freshen up the Gwu Lo website and help put it on the map.

No more anecdotes. I had hoped to continue.

I have many friends and acquaintances in Hong Kong.

I have received a tip off that this website is being monitored by a person, or persons, that may not be quite so friendly. The monitor is not within Government.

I have no intention of walking into trouble so goodbye for an undetermined time.

Dave W