By Willa Wu

Copyright scmp

Hong Kong police say they are armed with enough personnel and resources, including 600 drones and 200 trained dogs, to ensure the coming National Games go off without a hitch.
And while there was no specific intelligence suggesting terrorists would target the city during the Games, contingency plans were in place to deal with emergent situations, the force told the media this week.
The National Games will run between November 9 and 21 across 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area.
“Police will flexibly deploy manpower according to individual venues and events, including pre-competition warm-ups and training when athletes and officials arrive in Hong Kong,” said Lok Wai-lurk, senior superintendent for the force’s national games (special duties) operations wing.
The Games will feature more than 400 events across 34 sports, with Hong Kong hosting eight – fencing, men’s under-22 basketball, track cycling, golf, men’s handball, rugby sevens, triathlon and beach volleyball.
The government expects about 100,000 visitors from mainland China and overseas to travel to the city for the multi-sport event.
Lok said Hong Kong’s terrorist threat level remained moderate and there was no intelligence suggesting the city would become a target.
“But we will continue to assess the situation and intelligence, and make appropriate operational adjustments. We have relevant contingency plans in place,” he said.
Ko Chung-ying, superintendent of key points and search division under the major events bureau, said the force had more than 600 drones and about 700 officers qualified to operate them, serving different districts.
“They are sufficient to handle the events in the city,” he said.
Ko added that police had more than 200 dogs on hand for search operations at the venues.

The city’s newly opened Kai Tak Sports Park in Kowloon will host three of the eight sports, including men’s handball, rugby sevens and fencing.
In April and May, police received hoax bomb reports at Kai Tak Stadium, where the rugby sevens will be staged. Two suspects were arrested and charged with making the threats.
Yip Kit-fai, senior superintendent of operations in Kowloon East, said bag searches would be conducted at events to ensure no dangerous objects were taken inside the venues.
“We also have a mechanism to handle bomb hoax reports and are confident that we can deal with such cases,” Yip said.
Police conducted two-day cross-departmental major incident and counterterrorism exercises on August 1 and 2 at the Kong Sham Western Highway and Shenzhen Bay Port to prepare for the cross-boundary athletics marathon.
Tickets for the National Games went on sale on August 28 under a real-name system. Prices for outdoor events such as beach volleyball, golf and the triathlon range from HK$55 (US$6.35) to HK$219. Indoor events such as handball, basketball, rugby sevens, track cycling and fencing cost between HK$55 and HK$549, with assigned seating.