Police

A police force is a constituted body of persons empowered by the state to enforce the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder. Their powers include the legitimized use of force. The term is most commonly associated with police services of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined as being separate from military or other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing.

Law enforcement, however, constitutes only part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order. In some societies, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property. Many police forces suffer from police corruption to a greater or lesser degree. The police force is usually a public sector service, meaning they are paid through taxes.

Hong Kong Police Force

The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF), also known as the Hong Kong Police (HKP), is the largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. It is the world's second, and Asia's first, police agency to operate with a modern policing system. It was formed on 1 May 1844, with a strength of 32 officers. It was granted the 'Royal' prefix in 1969 and become the "Royal Hong Kong Police Force". Following the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, the Force was renamed to Hong Kong Police Force.

The current Commissioner of Police is Stephen Lo Wai-chung. Including the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force and civil servants, the force consists of about 40,000 personnel; which gives Hong Kong the second highest police officer/citizen ratio in the world as of 2014. In addition, the Marine Region with about 3,000 officers and a fleet of 143 vessels, is the largest of any civil police force.

History

The Hong Kong Police has been serving Hong Kong since shortly after the island was established as a colony in 1841. On 30 April 1841, 12 weeks after the British landed in Hong Kong, Captain Charles Elliot established a police force in the new colony. The first chief of police was Captain William Caine, who also served as the Chief Magistrate.

Police Force (pinball)

Police Force is a 1989 Williams pinball machine. The pinball machine was initially supposed to be released as Batman pinball, the police car was to be the Batmobile and the Jail was to be the Bat Cave. The machine features anthropomorphic jungle animals in the roles of police and robbers.

Digital versions

This pinball machine was included in the Atari Lynx game Pinball Jam alongside Elvira and the Party Monsters.

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