As a prolific documenter of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution and the protest movement, LostDutch has earned a reputation for what he calls “Dutching” Hong Kong cops—asking them to show their badge numbers and filming their often evasive reactions.
Another cop got “Dutched” for not wearing his ID
Posted by Lostdutch on 2015年9月14日
Over months of attending different Hong Kong demonstrations, LostDutch has built up a library of footage showing local cops “forgetting” to wear their ID numbers and refusing to identify themselves to members of the public.
Police being reminded that they “forgot” to wear ID These 4 “Black Vest” police officers got “Dutched” I kindly reminded them that they “forgot” to wear their ID. Even some of them were not very eager to take action after my first reminder….. More of them coming up later, as I had a very productive day. Sheung Shui, 2015-09-06
Posted by Lostdutch on 2015年9月6日
In the video above, shot at a protest earlier this month, LostDutch told HKFP he “noticed that most black-vested officers outside Sheung Shui Station were wearing IDs” but he later noticed that one of the officers who had previously been wearing ID later removed it, although he was “still wearing his police vest and executing police duties.”
On the same day, LostDutch says he “spotted a police camera team without vests or IDs.” He says he “started asking them about it but most refused to talk/react… After a few cops I ended up with a blue vest community relation officers with poor English. She said she would write down my question and ask her superior, as she was not permitted to answer me. Then the same video team walked by but they were suddenly wearing their police IDs.”
Police Camera Team “forgot” to wear ID It got my attention that these 2 police officers were filming the crowd for a long time, but were not wearing the usual police vests or ID as a camera team normally does. When the protest walk started, I decided to ask about this.I took me a long time to find somebody who spoke English, and even then she has “no authority” to answer my question. And see, at the end of the video the camera team is suddenly wearing their Police ID’s
Posted by Lostdutch on 2015年9月7日
As to why police officers appear to be concealing their identities in his videos, LostDutch suggests that “if something happens, it would be more difficult to identify them and make a complaint.”
LostDutch also recalled being “threatened” by police and in Mong Kok in December, when he asked them for their ID numbers while filming.
The police told him he was “disturbing their police duties by asking these questions.”
HKFP reached out to Hong Kong Police Force for comment on the cases documented by LostDutch and to confirm procedural guidelines for showing officers’ ID numbers, but did not receive a response.
