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Govt issues second apology to school over undercover operation
By Joy Lu (HK Edition)
Updated: 2009-11-28 07:05
HONG KONG: Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee has made another apology over the disclosure of the name of a secondary school that participated in an undercover anti-drug operation. The apology has been accepted. Speaking to reporters at Government Headquarters Friday, Lee said he deeply appreciates the courage of Joyce Kwok Yin-mei, the head of the Church of Christ in China Kei San Secondary School, for cooperating with police during a crackdown on campus drug offenses. "This should have been a good thing. The bad guys are caught. Unfortunately, the school's name became known in the process," he said. "I'm terribly sorry." "None of the arrested are students of the school," he stressed, in an effort to repair the damage to the school's reputation. He expressed confidence that the incident will not affect the Tai Po drug-testing scheme, to be launched next month. Only authorized persons can access information gathered through the trial drug-testing scheme, and results of tests will not be divulged to police, he said. Chief Superintendent of the Police Public Relations Branch David Ng Ka-shing admitted in a radio show Friday that the police have agreed to keep the school's name confidential but failed to secure a court order to prevent the information from being publicized. The "non-disclosure" order is usually applied in cases such as sexual assault to protect the victims. But this is not to say the school's name doesn't have to be protected, Ng said. The police are following up the matter to determine whether the police officer in charge of the case should have applied for the court order, he said. Kwok Friday acknowledged that police have tried to make amends. "I accept the apologies from the police and the government," she said in an interview with Cable TV. The police have quickly adopted measures to repair the harm caused by the disclosure, thus restoring the confidence of students and the public, she said. "I feel we can continue the cooperation," she said. "But there must be a mechanism to prevent similar incidents from happening again." Kwok held a press conference on Thursday after Chinese newspapers reported that a 24-year-old policewoman posed as a Secondary Three student of the school to befriend drug-abusing teenagers, as part of an anti-drug operation known as "Iron Racer". A total of 36 suspects, including 23 students, were nabbed as a result of the operation. The school was named when Chinese media covered the trial of one of the arrested. One newspaper mistakenly reported that the 23 are students of the Church of Christ in China Kei San Secondary School.
(HK Edition 11/28/2009 page4) |
