MTR self-service kiosk for filing police reports

Police have set up the first self-service kiosk outside of reporting rooms at the Admiralty MTR Station, allowing victims to report lost property and non-emergency cases themselves.

Police Commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee said almost half the cases handled in the report rooms are related to lost property.

With the self-service kiosk, people no longer need to wait at reporting rooms. The workload of reporting room officers will also be reduced, resulting in better resource deployment.

"[The kiosk] is located at the interchange station of the four major railway lines, which connects numerous tourist spots and major public service facilities. We believe that setting up the ... kiosk in Admiralty Station can be convenient," Siu said during the launching ceremony yesterday. "We will also proactively consider expanding the self-service kiosks to more police stations and other highly-populated places, MTR stations and border control points and major shopping malls."

Tai Wai and East Tsim Sha Tsui stations are among the locations being considered for additional kiosks.

Siu said the police achieved a target of having 12 self-service kiosks in operation at police report rooms or reporting centers by January this year.

Over the past three months, the kiosks have successfully processed over 15,000 lost property reports, accounting for over 70 percent of the total lost property cases reported to the report rooms of police stations.

The self-service kiosk, located at the L1 concourse of Admiralty Station, is the first outside of police station report rooms and centers. It is installed with a 24-inch touch screen and a privacy screen protector film to protect private information.

It is available in multiple languages - English, traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese.

Apart from reporting lost property, people can report non-emergency cases such as deception and traffic complaints.

Informants can scan their passports, Hong Kong or Macau ID cards or exit-entry permits for traveling to and from Hong Kong and Macau.

After completing the procedure, informants will receive a report number.

The new One-Stop Loss Reporting Service, developed jointly by the MTRC and the police force, allows the public to authorize police to upload their lost property reports to the MTR's Online Lost Property Platform.

"The data is encrypted ... so it is very secure," said the police's Information Systems Wing superintendent Tony Lam Wing-chung.

"Through the new arrangement, [people] can make a report to two different systems ... the [chance] of recovering the items [is higher]."

On launch day, the service helped a tourist successfully locate a handbag that was lost within the MTR area and helped find travel documents and mobile phone.