At the beginning of the new year, the Commissioner of Police, Deng Bingqiang, visited various districts for several days to offer condolences to his colleagues and New Year's greetings. According to sources, Deng Bingqiang and a number of senior police officers mentioned that they would upgrade police equipment, including considering the introduction of stun guns, during a video chat with police officers earlier. Tang Bingqiang pointed out that the police force is considering introducing various low-lethality weapons to assist law enforcement.

Yesterday was the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. Deng Bingqiang arrived at the Cheung Chau Police Station early in the morning on a marine police boat to express his condolences and New Year's greetings to his comrades. He said to the media present that since the anti-amendment incident the previous year, rioters have been attacking from the streets and gradually evolved to throwing bricks and gasoline. Even the use of weapons of mass destruction, such as sharp weapons, bows and arrows, and explosives, has damaged the peace of the society. However, there have been voices in the society that the police force used "excessive" force to respond. In fact, the police have also been working on the introduction of safer weapons.

According to sources, in order to be able to use force more safely, the police have introduced stun guns for testing earlier and to study whether they are suitable for inclusion in police equipment. Deng Bingqiang said that the police have recently launched two low-lethality weapons, including tear gas guns and pepper ball pistols, designed to provide police officers with weapon options other than real guns for safety; while other lower-force equipment is still in research.

"Apple" smears the police again

In addition, "Apple Daily" made up the police's equipment procurement work on the front page yesterday, slandering the police that "when subduing citizens, you may not only fire one shot, but you can fire four or five shots in a row." The police sent a letter to Luo Weiguang, editor-in-chief of "Apple Daily", saying that the relevant reports were maliciously smearing the police's law enforcement work, had no factual basis, and misled readers. "Apple Daily" made a big fuss about purchasing equipment, incited hatred against the police with biased reports, created panic, and damaged the professional image of the police force. The police deeply regretted this and severely condemned it.

In the letter, the police pointed out that the Hong Kong National Security Law aims to protect the safety of Hong Kong citizens. Apple Daily not only ignores the unreasonable sanctions imposed on Hong Kong by individual countries, but smears the police’s law enforcement arrests with biased and untrue accusations. The police reiterate once again that if someone breaks the law, the police have a statutory responsibility to enforce the law.