4. Knowledge Transfer from Hong Kong Police to Mainland Chinese Police

The increase in cross-border crime in Hong Kong since the 1990s has intensified police cooperation between Hong Kong and mainland China. The transfer of sovereignty in Hong Kong from Britain to China accelerated the pace and widened the scope of mutual police cooperation, especially in the areas of joint anti-crime campaigns, intelligence sharing and operation and evidence collection, as well as mutual exchanges, visits and training. Mainland police have been learning much from their Hong Kong counterparts in all four areas, while the Hong Kong police have also learnt from the mainland’s operations and procedures. In particular, the mainland police have been deeply impressed by the Hong Kong police’s practices of operation in accordance with the comprehensive and detailed Police Order, their use of police handbooks, the review of court cases, the rotation of police officers, and the services of psychological counseling. Moreover, the mainland police have learnt from the Hong Kong police in the area of community policing, especially on how to improve police-public and police-media relations. Finally, the ways in which the Hong Kong police handle social protests and unrest relatively peacefully set a model for mainland police. The mainland authorities have become far more cautious and intelligent in dealing with citizen protests based on the June 1989 Tiananmen experience, especially after they have witnessed how the Hong Kong police have been dealing with street protests, demonstrations and rallies in a relatively peaceful and skillful manner. If Hong Kong can be seen as a tail that wags the mainland Chinese dog, the area of policing has been neglected and it constitutes an important aspect of Hong Kong’s influence on China’s police modernization.