Hong Kong police officer arrested after allegedly sending indecent messages, images to female friend of suspect

Skip to content A Hong Kong police officer has been arrested after allegedly sending indecent messages and explicit photos to a female friend of a suspect he was investigating. Hong Kong Police Force. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Police said on Thursday that New Territories South regional crime unit officers arrested a 32-year-old man in Tuen Mun last week on suspicion of misconduct in public office. An investigation shows that the arrested officer allegedly contacted a female friend of a suspect in a criminal case in May 2025 and sent her indecent messages and photos, police said in a case briefing. The woman filed a police report on May 12 last year, the force added. The officer was charged with one count of misconduct in public office and appeared at the Shatin Magistrates’ Courts on Friday morning. He has also been suspended from duties. Shatin Magistrates’ Courts. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP. Police said they attach great importance to the conduct of their officers, adding that it would not tolerate officers committing illegal acts. The arrested officer belonged to Kwai Tsing police district, local media reported, citing unnamed sources. Misconduct in public office carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment and a fine determined by the court. In May, a former police chief inspector was jailed for 30 months over misconduct in public office after pleading guilty to accepting HK$1.4 million in bribes in exchange for leaking case details and dropping an investigation into a suspect. Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Make a one-off donation. Hans Tse is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in local politics, academia, and media transformation. He was previously a social science researcher, with writing published in the Social Movement Studies and Social Transformation of Chinese Societies journals. He holds an M.Phil in communication from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Before joining HKFP, he also worked as a freelance reporter for Initium between 2019 and 2021, where he covered the height - and aftermath - of the 2019 protests, as well as the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020. More by Hans Tse