The Hong Kong Police Headquarters () or HKPHQ are located at 1 Arsenal Street,

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road, Hong Kong, Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to th ...

, on

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

. It is the headquarters of the

Hong Kong Police Force The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest Hong Kong Disciplined Services, disciplined service under the Security Bureau (Hong Kong), Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Po ...

. The headquarters complex comprises several buildings, including Arsenal House (including main building, East and West Wing) and Caine House. As at December 2010, 5,202 police officers and 2,032 civilian officers are deployed in this headquarters.

History

Floor plan of Hong Kong Police Headquarters

Caine House

In 1864, first Hong Kong police headquarters was built at the junction with

Hollywood Road Hollywood Road is a street in Central and Sheung Wan, on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. The street runs between Central and Sheung Wan, with Wyndham Street, Arbuthnot Road, Ladder Street, Upper Lascar Row, and Old Bailey Street in the vici ...

and

Wyndham Street Wyndham Street is a one-way street in Central, Hong Kong. It is one of the earliest colonial streets, once known as Pedder Hill. Location It starts at the junction with Hollywood Road and Arbuthnot Road, near the Central Police Station, and ...

. After early

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the headquarters moved to Oriental Emporium at

Connaught Road West Connaught Road is a major thoroughfare on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It links Shing Sai Road in Kennedy Town to the west and Harcourt Road in Admiralty to the east. Location The road consists of two adjoining sections, ...

. In the 1950s, the colonial government gave the new

reclaimed land Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lak ...

to the police force to construct a new headquarters, replacing the Central Police Station. After several extensions, the Caine House was completed in 1952. It was named after William Caine, the founder of Hong Kong Police Force. May House is named after the first Police Magistrate, Charlie May.

Arsenal House

In September 1987, the Police Married Quarters was demolished and the project "Redevelopment of Police Headquarters, Arsenal Street, Wanchai" was launched in December 1993. The Redevelopment was divided into two phases: Arsenal House opened in 1990; Arsenal House (West Wing) opened in 1997. On 23 April 1997, ten years after the redevelopment, due to ageing facilities within May House, the Royal Hong Kong Police Force submitted the advice of police headquarters alteration, at a cost of 230 million Hong Kong dollars, to the

Provisional Legislative Council The Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) was the interim legislature of Hong Kong that operated from 1997 to 1998. The legislature was founded in Guangzhou and sat in Shenzhen from 1996 (with offices in Hong Kong) until the handover in 1997 an ...

Public Works Subcommittee. The members thought it is not economic benefit and they requested a long-term redevelopment plan for the police headquarters. After several discussions, the police force and the Legislative Council agreed to demolish May House and the car park site, while the two Arsenal Houses building remained. This plan was estimated to save rent of 34 million Hong Kong dollars every year for the police force. After the redevelopment, the Caine House and Wan Chai Police Station had been replanned. The new complex (main building) project launched in 2002 and completed in 2004. It cost two billion dollars. On 12 March 2005, the opening ceremony was held by the

Hong Kong Chief Executive The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and head of the Government of Hong Kong. The position was created to replace the office of governor of H ...

Donald Tsang Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012. Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyi ...

, Security Bureau

Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong (; 17 August 1948 – 14 August 2022) was a Hong Kong politician, Secretary for Security of Hong Kong and a member of the Executive Council. He was appointed to his post on 5 August 2003, replacing Regina Ip. Backgro ...

and Commissioner of Police

Lee Ming-kwai Dick Lee Ming-kwai () is a retired Hong Kong law enforcement administrator who formerly served as the Commissioner of Police of Hong Kong from 2003 to 2007. Biography Lee attended The Chinese University of Hong Kong and joined the Royal Hong ...

. This new complex is named as "Arsenal House". The former building with the same name are converted from Arsenal House to Arsenal House (East Wing).

Design

Arsenal House became a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

located in the

district of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. The tower rises 47

floors A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load ...

and in height. It was designed by the

Architectural Services Department The Architectural Services Department is a department of the Government of Hong Kong responsible for the design and construction of many public facilities throughout the territory. It is subordinate to the Works Branch of the Development Bu ...

, and was developed by

The Facade Group ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. Arsenal House, which stands as the 43rd-tallest building in Hong Kong and is tied in rank with the

Three Garden Road, Central Three Garden Road, Central, is an office building in Central, Hong Kong near Garden Road stop of the Peak Tram, completed in 1992 by the Great Eagle Group. The building comprises two wings, each with its own service core, which are marketed ...

, is composed entirely of commercial office units. It has a total floor area of Facilities include 200-seat multi-use hall, 300-seat lecture theatre and an indoor shooting range. Police Licences Office, Crime Prevention Bureau Exhibition, Media Conference Room and Police Recruitment Division Conversation Room locate at lower block of the Arsenal House. Lower block is also the office of Wan Chai Division Police Station. The East and West Wing are used as office by the other police units.新警政大樓切合本世紀需要
，香港政府新聞網，2004年4月20日 The Caine House are re-planned for Hong Kong Island Regional Headquarters and Hong Kong Island Emergency Unit Headquarters.

Gallery

References