sentences:  Numbers boomed after the Second World War, rising to just over 11,000 posts in 1947, and a peak of about 18,000 in 1954.Thereafter the size of the Service shrank rapidly as most territories attained independence, until its formal end in 1997.A number of HMOCS Police officers in Hong Kong have continued to serve there for the SAR government, and some expect to stay until the late 2020s.