Civil Aid Service

Civil Aid Services
民眾安全服務隊
Agency overview
Formed	1952
Jurisdiction	Hong Kong
Headquarters	8 To Wah Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon
Employees	112 full time; 3,634 adult members and 3,232 youths members
Minister responsible	Ambrose Lee, Secretary for Security
Agency executives	Dr. Ernest S. W. Lee, Commissioner Mr. Chi Keung Liu, Chief Staff Officer and Deputy Commissioner
Website
CAS

CAS Headquarters

The Civil Aid Service (Chinese: 民眾安全服務隊) or CAS(民安隊) in short is a civil organisation that assist in a variety of auxiliary emergency roles, including search and rescue operations in Hong Kong:

• providing support to the government regular emergency forces on counter disaster activities, mountain search and rescue, flood rescue, countryside fire protection duties;
• providing crowd control and management services in major public functions;
• patrolling country parks and hiking trails and assisting people in need of help;
• staging performances to enhance public attention on major campaigns or activities organised by government departments and non-government organisations;
• providing training activities and professional services on mountain safety/rescue for government departments and non-government organisations and

CAS is funded by the Hong Kong Government and members wear uniforms.

History

Badge of the Civil Aid Service, 1952-1997.

Flag of the Civil Aid Service, 1952-1997.

Formed in 1952 under the British colonial government of Hong Kong (CAS Ordinance) and modelled after Civil Aid agencies in the United Kingdom.

As well, a youth section, CAS Cadet Corps, adds 3,232 volunteers to the regular 3,634 force.

The concept was introduced during British rule, an organisation also found in Britain.

Organisation

CAS are headed by the Commissioner and CAS (Department) by Chief Staff Officer (also Deputy Commissioner).

Past Commissioners

• Dr Norman Leung

Rank

• Commissioner (Grade Senior VII Officer)
• Deputy Commissioner - Ops, Admin and Support (Grade VII Officer)
• Senior Assistant Commissioner (Grade VII Officer)
• Regional (Hong Kong, Kowloon, New Territories) / Cadet Corps / Support Force Commander / Administration Force / Tactical Force (Grade VII Officer)
• Duputy Regional / Cadet Corps / Support Force Commander (Grade SVI Officer)
• Assistant Regional Commander (Grade VI Officer)
• Company Commander (Grade SV Officer)
• Deputy Company Commander (Grade V Officer)
• Platoon Commander (Grade IV Officer)
• Senior Section Leader (Grade Senior III Officer)
• Section Leader (Grade III Officer)
• Deputy Section Leader (Grade II Officer)
• Senior Member (Grade Senior I Officer)
• Member (Grade I Officer)
• Cadet / Senior Cadet / Deputy Cadet Leader / Cadet Leader / Senior Cadet Leader

Facilities

• Hong Kong Training Centre - Causeway Bay
• Tai Tan Camp - Sai Kung
• Yuen Tun Camp - Tsuen Wan

Mountain Search and Rescue Company

The Mountain Search and Rescue Company (民安隊山嶺搜救中隊) or CAS MSaR consists of two search and rescue teams specializing in mountain terrain within Hong Kong (mainly in the New Territories). MSaR team is made up of auxiliary members of CAS. Formed in 1967, it has a combined total of 246 members.^[1] MSaR works with Hong Kong Fire Services and Government Flying Service (air support) when deployed to incidents.

Crest

The current crest of the force was adopted in 1997 to replace most of the British colonial symbols:

• St Edward's Crown replace with the Bauhinia, Hong Kong's regional emblem
• Crest's unilingual wording CAS Hong Kong replaced with the bilingual "香港 - 民安隊 Civil Aid Service - Hong Kong"

Source: [1]

References

1. ^ http://www.cas.gov.hk/eng/info/info_msar.html

External links

• CAS
• Hong Kong Disciplined Services