History of Hong Kong Police midnight on 1 July 1997, when China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong, and the force reverted to the title "Hong Kong Police". Despite loyal and steadfast service and efficiency levels which have grown steadily over 160 years, life on the force has not always been rosy. No administration anywhere can ever claim to have been free of corruption in its varying forms and severity. The spectre of corruption became really prominent in Hong Kong in the 1960s; the Hong Kong Police—as did almost every government department—experienced this and it peaked between 1962 and 1974, involving officers of all ranks and
British Hong Kong franchise to include them. The Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed by both the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Premier of the People's Republic of China on 19 December 1984 in Beijing. The Declaration entered into force with the exchange of instruments of ratification on 27 May 1985 and was registered by the People's Republic of China and United Kingdom governments at the United Nations on 12 June 1985. In the Joint Declaration, the People's Republic of China Government stated that it had decided to resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon,