Community policing in walled villages in Hong Kong

Abstract

This research aims to examine community policing in walled villages in Hong Kong. Walled villages are entirely different communities to urban area. In walled villages, local governance is carried out by the village committees. With the presence of local governance, community policing might not be easy to be implemented in walled villages. When community policing is implemented in walled villages, adequate communication and well-established relationship with villagers must be maintained, so as to reduce conflicts between police and villages, and hence to implement policing in walled villages. Based on ten penetrating interviews with police officers and walled villagers, as well as the observation in a meeting of the Rural Committee, this research examined the policing strategies required to fulfil multiple demands in walled villages, the perspectives on the demand for policing in walled villages, as well as the essential factors to improve community policing in walled villages.