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Enforcement

Is enough being done to police the smoking ban?

SCMP

P.A. Crush (Talkback, August 24) replying to my letter (Talkback, August 17) is wrong about the attitude of Hong Kong’s finest towards smoking. I repeatedly call the police to report violations of the smoking ban.

Officers arrive, are unfailingly polite to all parties, and then, privately, tell me how much they appreciate my complaints because tobacco smoke is so offensive and causes so much damage to society.

Shop owners in Stanley Market point me towards stall holders who are smoking illegally and encourage me to make reports, because they feel the need to “maintain good relationships” with those who pollute their air. I am happy to do so.

As to foul language on the street, I am often subjected to that – as well as having smoke deliberately blown into my face, which is a criminal offence.

Mr Crush appears to be living in the triad-controlled past when the criminals dictated how the police responded to illegal activity. I live in the present and work with the Hong Kong police to enforce the law, without first asking the criminals if they object.

Annelise Connell, Stanley

Tobacco officers drop planned protest at enforcing smoking ban

Ng Yuk-hang – SCMP

Tobacco control officers who had threatened industrial action have backed down four days before the smoking ban is extended.

Their union held a meeting with the Tobacco Control Office yesterday, which said later it expected a full team of 80 officers to report to work next Tuesday.

Last week an anonymous representative of the Temporary Union of Tobacco Control Office Employees said its members would take sick leave next Tuesday, accusing the office of wasting taxpayers’ money, the union’s website said.

The head of the Tobacco Control Office, Ronald Lam Man-kin, said they had met the officers individually or in small groups to “listen to their concerns”.

“Our impression is that no one seemed to have plans to apply for leave on that day,” Dr Lam said.

He said the government had a framework on applying for leave and anyone who deviated from this risked dismissal.

The union issued a statement saying that after collecting advice from various parties the industrial action had been postponed to “avoid affecting all Hongkongers”.

The smoking ban will be extended to 48 covered public transport interchanges from Tuesday. On the same day, offenders will receive a fixed penalty of HK$1,500 instead of a summons.

Up to July 31, more than 3,700 summonses had been issued, Dr Lam said, with offenders being fined an average HK$800.

From Tuesday, 2,200 staff of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, 700 of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and 430 from the Housing Department will be empowered to issue penalty tickets in areas under their control, such as libraries, beaches and shopping centres.

Some employees have said they would not enforce the ban, citing concerns over personal safety and workload.

Dr Lam said more than 20 talks and on-the-spot training had been offered to more than 2,000 staff from these departments, but he understood that these staff members would have normal duties to carry out.

“The office will still design operations for places such as libraries. We might have joint action,” he said. “For the Tobacco Control Office, it is business as usual.”

The smoking ban was extended to six types of entertainment venue on July 1. Dr Lam said inspections had been smooth and that there were no reports of violence in bars, nightclubs, pubs, mahjong parlours, massage shops and bath houses.

By yesterday, there had been 125 inspections of such establishments but only 53 summonses had been issued – including 36 involving mahjong houses and five in bars. No summonses had been made in massage shops and bath houses.

Dr Lam said the success of smoking controls should not solely depend on the number of inspections and summonses, but also the number of people who had quit smoking because of the ban and the increased tobacco tax.

By the end of this financial year, the office will have a full team of 99 tobacco control officers, with about 55 as contract workers.

Dr Lam said these contract posts would ultimately become civil service positions, but he did not mention a conversion timetable.

Union members had complained that a four-day induction course for new recruits was too short.

Dr Lam said extra training would be offered every year, with topics including violence prevention.

The work of new recruits would also be under close supervision, he said.

Is enough being done to police the smoking ban?

SCMP

It is time the government admitted that its toothless no-smoking law (“We don’t have time to issue tickets for defying smoke ban, staff say,” August 25) was always just a sham intended to dupe the public into believing some action was being taken.

A toddler could see that it is not feasible for the government to enforce this law directly.

Overseas governments have recognised this by putting the burden on bar and restaurant owners: allowing patrons to smoke is treated just like any other health code violation, and owners who do so swiftly find themselves without an operating licence.

Our government is not so foolish that it could have failed to notice this obvious problem with enforcing the law.

A frank acknowledgment of duplicity by the responsible parties is therefore long past due.

I also call on the government to name the date on which this bogus law will be replaced by a real no-smoking law.

Brad Foreman, Clear Water Bay

Smoking fixed penalty in crisis already

Oriental Daily

The fixed penalty for illegal smoking from September 1 might not be implemented smoothly. Inspectors from the Tobacco Control Office are planning a mass day of sick leave that day to protest about the unbearable stress and workload. Some 4,500 staffers of auxiliary agencies including the Leisure and Cultural Services, the Food and Environmental Hygiene department and the Housing Authority have also made it clear that they would not proactively enforce prosecution due to a lack of government support and personal safety issues.

We don’t have time to issue tickets for defying smoke ban, staff say

Ng Yuk-hang – SCMP

Officers responsible for issuing fixed-penalty tickets for illicit smoking from Tuesday next week have been told to give priority to their original duties, raising fears they will not have time to enforce the smoking ban.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Staff Rights Union said a new guideline had recently been issued to frontline staff saying they should perform their original duties first. “Smoking control is not our priority,” union chairwoman Li Mei-siu said.

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department said smoking enforcement “will not overtake the current core duties and work priorities” of its staff. The department would continue to review whether it had enough manpower.

The two departments and the Housing Department are responsible for handing out tickets to those who smoke in premises and venues under their management, such as libraries, wet markets, beaches and housing estates.

Ms Li said her co-workers might not even have enough time to finish their duties in venue management, with only 200 staff responsible for managing 150 wet markets and cooked food centres.

“Without giving us more manpower and resources, how can we perform the extra duties?” she said.

Law enforcement would only be effective when the officers worked in teams, she said. “If there is only one staff member issuing tickets, offenders may escape or use violence. There would be no one to help,” she said.

Under the new guideline, staff would be even less motivated to catch illegal smokers. “Citizens will think we are shirking, but in fact we simply have no time,” she said.

The department should modify its guideline and, more importantly, assign a team of staff specifically for issuing penalty tickets, she said.

A department spokesman said more than 20 training sessions had already been provided for the 700 staff who would soon have the power to issue penalty tickets. He did not comment further.

Leisure Service Staff General Union chairman Gary Cheung Siu-wing said his colleagues had no time to perform the extra duty. The workload had been “very heavy” for the 1,600 staff of the leisure services branch, who, in addition to managing more than 1,000 swimming pools and beaches and more than a million trees, would also be responsible for issuing penalty tickets.

“We cannot even finish our proper work,” he said. “It is like asking firemen to catch thieves on their way to a burning building. Issuing tickets might also threaten our personal safety.” He urged his colleagues to concentrate on getting their original duties done first.

A Department of Health spokesman said it “sincerely hoped” staff of these departments would enforce the smoking ban according to the law. A total of 17 training sessions had been offered by the Tobacco Control Office since March this year to staff of the three departments.

By July 31, the Tobacco Control Office had issued 3,718 summonses this year. Some 31 per cent involved games centres, 16 per cent shopping malls and retail outlets, and 14 per cent restaurants.

Enforcers pleased with smoke ban compliance

Dan Kadison – SCMP

Most smokers are complying with the final phase of the smoking ban – and a new measure will soon provide a strong deterrent to those considering lighting up in prohibited places, a top law enforcement official says.

On September 1, the Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offences) Ordinance will go into effect, giving tobacco control inspectors, police and at least 1,000 government employees the power to issue fixed HK$1,500 tickets to those who puff away in smoke-free spots.

“A fixed-penalty ticket is quite, quite costly… We’re talking HK$1,500. It’s an expensive ticket,” said Chief Inspector Roger L.S. Mui, who has been working with the Tobacco Control Office since December. “People will think before they smoke in a non-smoking area.”

At present, 85 tobacco control inspectors issue summonses to law-breakers in smoke-free venues. Each summons carried a possible penalty of up to HK$5,000, but the actual fine imposed by the courts had averaged “around HK$500 to HK$1,000″, Chief Inspector Mui said.

Under the new ordinance, the summons scheme will be dropped and hundreds of “designated officers” from the departments of food and environmental hygiene, leisure and cultural services, and housing will be empowered to issue fixed-penalty tickets “in public venues under their management”, a Department of Health spokesman said.

Tobacco control inspectors have issued more than 14,000 summonses since January last year, when smoking became illegal in restaurants, workplaces and indoor public areas.

Bars, nightclubs, mahjong parlours, karaokes, massage venues and bathhouses lost their exemptions on July 1 – and, overall, the final phase of the ban was “working well”, Chief Inspector Mui said. People were following the law and venue operators were being “very co-operative”.

Health Department figures show 310 complaints were made about smoking in venues covered by the final phase and 45 summonses were issued by tobacco control investigators up to last Monday.

Chief Inspector Mui said publicity and education about the switch to fixed-penalty tickets, along with the wider net of enforcement, would further deter smokers. In the meantime, he said, ticket issuers had been trained and were ready to enforce the new ordinance. They had received instruction from Tobacco Control Office staff and police, who have been seconded to the office to train inspectors since 2005.

Is enough being done to police the smoking ban?

SCMP

Your correspondents Allan Dyer and Annelise Connell should get realistic about smoking “offenders” inside buildings, lifts and bars (Talkback, August 17). Ms Connell claims that offenders are “criminal” and bar licence-holders should be penalised if they fail to enforce no-smoking rules.

She even suggests they should call the police every time an offender refuses to co-operate and, furthermore, that they should lose their liquor licences (and landlords the use of their premises) if they fail to report these “vice” cases to the police.

Let’s make it quite clear, smokers lighting up in the wrong places are not committing crimes. These offences are only misdemeanours in law and the police have much more important priorities than to welcome smoking complaints and send officers rushing to licensed premises to track down smokers.

If I were the local police commander, whose officers received repeated phone calls from a bar owner about this problem, I would issue a polite warning about wasting police time.

You have to face the reality. All you anti-tobacco lobbyists have been outwitted. You have been handed an utterly useless and almost unenforceable law.

Blasphemy and the use of foul language also continue to be offences, but we hear these on the streets all the time. Why not start a campaign about these “crimes” as well? Your correspondents have to get real.

P. A. Crush, Sha Tin

Is enough being done to police the smoking ban?

SCMP

It is impossible for the government to punish every person who chooses to flout the smoking ban. I do not think there are enough tobacco-control officers to supervise the smokers. It is impractical for the government to ask the public to report smokers. Even if someone sees an individual breaking the law in the street, by the time the officer arrives, the person may have left. I think more of these officers need to be deployed on Hong Kong’s streets.

The government must also broadcast more television adverts and use them to educate people to obey the law.

Agnes Yu, Kwun Tong

Is enough being done to police the smoking ban?

SCMP

Apparently, the enforcement of the ban is too lax as we can still see smokers lighting up in indoor areas. Some smokers have moved to upstairs bars where they can enjoy their cigarettes without worrying about being caught.

Worse still, the owners of some bars actually provide ashtrays to their patrons. Although there are some owners who will try and persuade customers to put out their cigarettes, they are often ignored.

A ban that cannot be enforced is equal to having no law at all.

Those flouting the law will continue to light up and non-smokers will still be exposed to lethal second-hand smoke.

I would like to see Tobacco Control Officers increase the frequency of their patrols in areas such as SoHo and Lan Kwai Fong. I also think raids should be carried out in those upstairs pubs where smokers ignore the law.

I appreciate that pub owners face a dilemma, but they should play a more active role. For example, they should remove all ashtrays and urge customers who wish to smoke to go outside.

Non-smokers also have an important role to play. They can report venues where smokers are defying the ban to the respective government department.

I urge smokers to abide by the ban and show some consideration for non-smokers. Also, they must appreciate that they are breaking the law and if they are caught they will be fined. All they have to do to avoid that is go outside.

Mike Lam, Kwun Tong