Police have set up a designated team to follow up on complaints against the force relating to recent major public order events, Secretary for Security John Lee said today.

Mr Lee told lawmakers that as of yesterday, the Complaints Against Police Office had received 1,261 complaint cases against Police related to major public order events which took place since June 9.

The complaints include those about misconduct, impoliteness and assault, involving 1,647 allegations. Of which, 467 are reportable complaints lodged by people directly affected, involving 687 allegations.

There were 794 cases regarded as anonymous complaints or complaints lodged by people who are not directly affected, or complaints which are vexatious and frivolous. They involved 960 allegations and were classified as notifiable complaints.

All complaint cases are under investigation.

Mr Lee said the designated team consists of 26 members who did not take part in handling the unrest in the past few months, adding the team is sparing no effort in following up the relevant complaints.

He stressed that the well-established two-tier mechanism of handling complaints against Police, consisting of the Complaints Against Police Office and the Independent Police Complaints Council, has been in effective operation for more than 10 years.

If members of the public wish to lodge complaints against the conduct of police officers, they may identify the officers concerned based on their unique identification numbers or identifiable operational call signs, he added.

Mr Lee said during recent major public order events, uniformed police officers on duty would display their unique identification numbers or identifiable operational call signs, while plainclothes police officers would identify themselves or produce warrant cards, or display identifiable operational call signs, as long as doing so was not infeasible under the operational circumstances.

Police introduced operational call signs as a pilot measure in response to public concerns on the display of officers’ unique identification numbers, Mr Lee explained, adding operational call signs of officers who participate in an operation are as effective as unique identification numbers in identifying a police officer.

He said the arrangement enhances the force’s overall effectiveness in large-scale operations and strikes a proper balance between ensuring the identification of police officers and protecting their personal data from malicious disclosure.

If complainants are unable to provide the concerned officers’ numbers or operational call signs, Police will identify the officers concerned according to their manpower deployment, duty records, the time and location of the incident in relation to the complaint, etc, Mr Lee added.