)
As the sun set on a humid Sunday over thousands of protesters thronging downtown Hong Kong, police in helmets and gas masks lobbed the first of 87 tear-gas canisters, sending people racing to rinse out their burning eyes.
The live images on television on September 28 - the first use of tear gas since 2005 - shocked a city used to peaceful rallies and brought out more protesters. The next day police pulled back from flash point areas, though they stayed on duty. By September 30, four young officers grabbing dinner in Mong Kok, a rally site on the other side of Victoria Harbour, talked of napping in fast food outlets after working seven days straight.
Forbidden from speaking officially given Hong Kong Police Force rules, the men nevertheless expressed frustration with their bosses. Senior officers rushed to authorise the use of tear gas, they said, tarnishing the reputation of a force that has its roots in a colonial contingent established by British administrators in 1844.
Also Read
"The status of the police hasn't changed, but the whole political climate has," said a 60-year-old retired officer surnamed Chan, who asked not to be identified in full because of the sensitivity of the matter. He was on the force from 1973 to 2009. "Ten or so years ago, we wouldn't see these kinds of situations happening. You can say the police have become the victim of these political movements."
The police actions threaten a hard-won popularity built on their role in a city that prizes stability, stamping out communist-led demonstrations in 1967 and quelling riots by South Korean farmers at a World Trade Organization meeting in 2005. In recent years a perception has grown that China is meddling in Hong Kong's affairs, culminating in a policy paper in June where China said the autonomy of Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region (SAR), was not an inherent right.
"People tend to have changing perceptions toward the Beijing-Hong Kong relationship," Lawrence Ho, a lecturer at the Hong Kong Institute of Education who has written four books on the city's police, said in an e-mail. "That also affects people's, particularly the youth, trust in the SAR government, and thus the police."
Unlike August protests in Ferguson, Missouri, that focused on racism and police heavy-handedness after the shooting of an unarmed black teenager and degenerated into looting and violence, Hong Kong's protests have been largely orderly and focused on political change.
"These students are peaceful but the police treated them like rioters," said Dennis Kwok, 54, an engineer who saw the confrontations on television and took his 15-year-old son to join the protest. "At home, while we watched, we were outraged by what we saw."
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Police public relations branch declined to comment when asked about the impact of the actions on the reputation of the force. He declined to identify himself when answering the phone, citing police policy.
The student-led demonstrations began September 26 to oppose China's decision that candidates for the 2017 election of chief executive, the city's leader, be vetted by a committee. Critics say the system is likely to produce a new leader effectively handpicked by the government in Beijing.
Students strengthened barricades around the government's main office building today, preventing civil servants from reaching work. Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has agreed to the government holding talks aimed at defusing the standoff.
The September 28 violence flared partly due to problems with crowd control around the government headquarters on the edge of Hong Kong's Central district, where police blocked protester access including overhead walkways. The swelling crowd spilled onto Connaught Road, the center's main artery, blocking traffic.
"The people built up and built up until finally they crossed the road," said James Rice, an assistant professor of philosophy and law at Hong Kong's Lingnan University, who witnessed the incident. "The police were profoundly inept in the sense that they forced the protesters to become more militant."
Officers used "minimum force" to keep a distance between protesters and the police to prevent injuries, and exercised "the highest degree of professionalism and restraint," assistant commissioner Cheung Tak-keung said on September 29 in a briefing. "We strongly condemn the violent acts of some protesters who charged the police cordon line."
Ho from the Hong Kong Institute of Education said the police force, which numbered about 28,000 active officers at the end of 2013, has been considered "very well-behaved" and professional.
'More controversial'
Hong Kong's force ranked fourth for the reliability of police services in the 2013-2014 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report, which surveyed 148 countries.
"The police performance on the protest management is far more controversial than that in crime suppression and community policing issues, because they didn't appear to be fair and adhere to the principle of neutrality," Ho said.
Uniformed police, who carry .38 Smith and Wesson Model 10 heavy barrel revolvers, are encouraged to use restraint. If an officer so much as draws a gun from its holster they must file a report and account for the action to superiors, the South China Morning Post reported September 19, citing police guidelines.
Losing control
Using tear gas is an extreme measure as authorities can't guarantee how people will respond, according to Nick O'Brien, head of the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and a former Scotland Yard anti-terrorism officer.
"Will they panic, go left, go right?" he said. "To a certain extent you risk losing control."
Hong Kong police officers must attend continuation courses and pass a qualifying examination each year to carry firearms, the force's public relations branch said in response to e-mailed questions.
The reputation of the police has suffered before. Public anger at graft led to the creation of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in 1974. The Commission was formed after Peter Godber, an expatriate officer with assets of more than HK$4.3 million ($553,670), fled while being investigated, according to the ICAC website. He was later extradited from the UK and found guilty of corruption.
"Salaries were very low at the time, so people wanted to join the police force because of higher pay and job security," said James, a retired policeman who joined the force in 1969 and retired as a detective station sergeant in 2005. He asked to be identified by his first name because he acts in a public service role as a retired officer.
Academic requirements
Speaking in Cantonese, James said he left school at 13 and worked several odd jobs before joining the force at 18. Since then the academic requirements have tightened.
To enlist as a constable, the lowest permanent rank, applicants must pass five subjects in the high school leaving exam and be proficient in English and Chinese, according to the Hong Kong Police website. Those who hope to be an inspector must have a university degree and pass a multiple-choice test on the Basic Law, the mini constitution.
Constables undergo 27 weeks of preparation including physical training, weapons handling and tactics, according to the website. Training for a higher rank takes 36 weeks and includes courses on leadership.
James said his daughter, a senior inspector with a master's degree, asked him why people were so angry with the police.
"When you have a weak and unpopular government, people tend to vent their anger on the police," he said. "There is a saying within the force: 'You are paid to deal with this'."
