Out of the box How to handle 1,400 reports a day
The Hong Kong government set up a hotline for the public to report on offenses under the National Security Law. They received 1,400 calls a day. 

Some of the calls are cranked calls. Some are malicious. Some are constructive.

This is how I would deal with the calls.

a) I will get the contact numbers of the callers. I will call them back. This is to verify that the contact numbers are genuine.

b) I will get more particulars of the caller and more details of the suspects. If the caller is not able to provide specific details, I will classify the call as unverified.

c) I will call the suspects - if contact details are provided. This is to verify that the suspect exists.

d) If an address is provided, I will locate the suspect at the address. I may ask the neighbors if that person exists. I will leave a message for the suspect to call back.

e) I will ask the suspect for information related to the complaint. The suspect may give a credible reason for the complaint to be set aside. If the suspect is really involved in the activity, he is alerted and will probably discontinue it. This is the value of deterrence.

A large percentage of the cases will be set aside following the above process. It does not require a lot of ground work. Only a few cases need to be taken to the next level of investigation.

Some of the cases that were set aside due to lack of information may suffice later by looking for repeat cases in the database. If several people report the same suspect (and the people who reported are not working in collusion), the suspect will be elevated to the second level of investigation.

I will describe the above process as "smart investigation". We should be using modern tools, i.e. the mobile phone, reporting by apps and database, to improve the process. 

I hope that the authority will adopt this approach.

Do you agree that this is a good approach?

Tan Kin Lian

 

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