History of Hong Kong Police  The history of the Hong Kong Police originates in 1841, when the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) was officially established by the British colonial government, the same year that the British had settled in Hong Kong. While changes have been implemented throughout the People's Republic of China (PRC) since the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, the Hong Kong Police Force (formerly the Royal Hong Kong Police Force) has since been responsible for serving the city. On 30 April 1841, twelve weeks after the British had landed in Hong Kong, orders were given by Captain Charles Elliot to establish a police force in the new colony. The first chief of police was Captain William Caine, who also served as the Captain of the Chief Magistrate. The Hong Kong Police was officially established by the colonial government on 1 May 1844, and the duties of the magistrate and head of police were separated. At the time of its establishment, the police force consisted of thirty-two men. The ethnic composition of the inaugural force consisted of mixed Chinese, European nationals or Indians. Policemen from different ethnic groups were assigned a different alphabetical letter before their batch numbers: "A" for Europeans, "B" for Indians, "C" for local Chinese who spoke Cantonese, and "D" for Chinese recruited from Shandong Province. "E" was later assigned to White Russians who arrived from Siberia after the Russian Civil War. For several decades, Hong Kong was a 'rough-and-tumble' port with a 'wild west' attitude to law and order. Consequently, many members of the force were equally rough individuals. As Hong Kong began to flourish and make its place in the world, Britain began to take a dim view of the government's lack of grip in both public and private sectors, and officials with strong values and Victorian concepts of management and discipline were sent to raise standards. Strong leadership, both of Hong Kong and of the force, began to pay dividends towards the latter part of the 19th century, and business prospered accordingly. Piracy on the seas was a constant challenge for the Water Police. Responsibility for the city's prisons passed out of the control of the police in 1879. The 1890s brought challenges, both operational and organisational - there were outbreaks of bubonic plague in 1893–94; whilst the annexation of the New Territories (an additional 356sq.m. of land) in 1898–99, created difficult, but surmountable problems.