[Scan-DC] Officer's radio fished out of septic tank

[Alan Henney]

South China Morning Post

March 27, 2012 Tuesday

Officer's radio fished out of septic tank

BYLINE: Clifford Lo clifford.lo at scmp.com

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 03

LENGTH: 254 words

Sanitation workers yesterday retrieved a police digital walkie-talkie worth more than HK$20,000 from a public toilet in Tai Po, where it had been accidentally dropped into a septic tank by a police officer over the weekend. 

A team from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, responding to a police request for help, took nearly three hours to retrieve the device from the three-metre-deep tank beneath the toilet at Hang Ha Po, off Lam Kam Road.

The radio fell into the tank at about 8.45pm on Saturday, after a plainclothes officer visited the toilet while on patrol with three colleagues during an anti-burglary operation. She immediately reported the loss to her commander.

Officers guarded the toilet for the next two days, until the FEHD could respond. Sewage was pumped out before a worker went into the tank to retrieve the walkie-talkie. 

Police said the 27-year-old policewoman, who has been with the Tai Po divisional task force for about two years, had placed the device on top of a tissue-roll holder.

She would probably receive a verbal warning for negligence, an officer said.

"It appears to be a careless act, but each officer is responsible for handling and keeping their equipment properly," the officer said.

According to police, communication between the walkie-talkie and the control centre had been disconnected after it was reported missing.

The device is part of the force's third-generation Command and Control Communications system, which is digitally encrypted to prevent illegal scanners eavesdropping.