Officers wearing the same call signs 'just a hiccup'

Officers wearing the same call signs 'just a hiccup'

Senior superintendent Wong Wai-shun says he's explained to officers how they should use the operational call signs correctly. File photo: RTHK

Wong Wai-shun

Police said on Friday that an "administrative and logistical hiccup" is to blame for some officers wearing identical operational call signs on their uniforms.



RTHK had found that at least four officers out of a group of about 20 at a protest in Tsim Sha Tsui on Christmas Eve all shared the exact same call sign.



This is despite the government's claim that the tags are unique and can be used to identify individual officers at protests.



At a police briefing, senior superintendent Wong Wai-shun said he was concerned about the incident highlighted by RTHK and had talked to the commander on the day to find out what happened.



Wong said he learnt that there was some misunderstanding about the use of the operational call signs, stressing that the officers did not wear the same ones intentionally.



“I've personally explained and instructed them how they should use the operational call signs correctly,” he said.



Meanwhile, police denied that uniformed officers hit and arrested a plainclothes officer by mistake in Tai Po on Thursday.



Senior superintendent Kong Wing-cheung admitted, however, there was "some misunderstanding" involving the plainclothes officer who was conducting an ambush operation against protesters at Tai Po's Mega Mall.



He added that the officers quickly confirmed his identity, despite a chaotic situation.



“Sometimes we couldn’t avoid mis-targetting our own officers. But as you could see inside shopping malls, we would use less lethal weapons like our pepper sprays or batons, so there won’t be great harm done to the rioters or even to our own officers,” he said.