Sharon Chan's body search by male police officer in 'Ghetto Justice' causes an uproar

TVB series Ghetto Justice broadcast episode 7 the night before. The scene was about prostitute Sharon Chan on the street sexually harassed by a male police officer. The officer suspected she was hiding weapons and forced a body search on her, but was suspected to be sexual harassment. This forceful body search stirred an uproar among the audience. A real police officer felt that the scene damages the image of the police force and insults females. It completely deviated the truth. The Broadcasting Authority (BA) received complaints yesterday regarding the discrimination towards sex workers and misleading the audience.

Episode 7 was about Sharon, who plays a prostitute, getting into a fight with other prostitutes on the street. A male police officer came by and suspected she had weapons and demanded to search her body. She felt insulted by the forceful body search and went to ask her lawyer friend, played by Myolie Wu for help. She wanted Myolie to be her witness and appeal the case on her behalf, but she decline. This scene, a male officer physically searching a female led to discussions online, Netizens felt that it was unreasonable. The BA received 2 complaints on this scene, that the scene is discriminating sex workers and misleads the audience. TVB Deputy Director of Foreign Affairs (Tsang Sing Ming) said that it is required for the plot because it needs to point out that sex workers are treated unfairly and in real life, law enforcement of course will not do that.

Reporters did more research on this scene and pointed out that the scene damages the image of the police force. A member of the Junior Police Officers Association (Wong Tak) learned of the scene and said "of course can't do that". He said under the Police General Orders, a police officer cannot physically search the opposite sex: "Acting is acting, cannot overly deviate reality." He also said that this will affect the police force's image and insults females. As it is understood, he and his colleagues already sent a complaint letter to the BA.

Source: Mingpao
Translated by: aZnangel @ AsianEU