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 nationality law and Hong Kong Kong began to fear for their future post-1997. Emigration was rampant and a brain-drain was beginning to affect the economy of Hong Kong. To stem the drain, people urged the British government to grant full British citizenship to all Hong Kong BDTCs – but this request was never accepted. However, the British did agree to creating the British Nationality Selection Scheme, which granted to a select 50,000 people and their families the ability to obtain full British citizenship without having to fulfill the ordinary requirements, under the "British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act, 1990". Under the act, the Home Secretary was