Pursuant to the one country, two systems principle, the HKPF is officially independent of the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China, which under usual circumstances may not interfere with Hong Kong’s local law enforcement matters.

All HKPF officers are employed as civil servants and therefore required to pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Basic Law.

On 30 April 1841, 12 weeks after the British landed in Hong Kong, Captain Charles Elliot established a policing authority in the new colony, empowering Captain William Caine to enforce Qing law in respect of local inhabitants and "British Police Law" for "non-natives".

[5] By October 1842, an organised police force (still under the direction of Caine who was also Chief Magistrate) was routinely bringing criminals before the courts for trial.

[5]: 17  Caine's role as head of the police force ended when its first Superintendent was appointed on 22 February 1844, Captain Haly of the 41st Madras Native Infantry.

Some local Chinese were also recruited as police officers, which the force retained after the liberation of Hong Kong from Japan and were given the letter designation of "J".

In the 1970s and 1980s, large numbers of Vietnamese boat people arrived in Hong Kong, posing challenges first for marine police, secondly for officers who manned the dozens of camps in the territory and lastly for those who had to repatriate them.

[11] The recruitment of Europeans to the force ceased in 1994,[12] and in 1995 the Royal Hong Kong Police took responsibility for patrolling the boundary with China.

The force played a prominent role in the process of the handover of sovereignty in 1997 and continues to perform ceremonial flag-raising on each anniversary.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the force struggled with corruption issues relating to bribes from syndicated drugs and illegal gambling operations.

[25] In particular, the police were criticised for their failure to respond during the mob attack at the Yuen Long MTR station in July 2019.

The Special Branch was established by the British Colonial Government of Hong Kong in 1934 originally as an anti-communist squad under MI5 with assistance from MI6.

[31] The branch later joined the Crime Department of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in 1946 and focussed on preventing pro-KMT rightists and pro-CCP leftists from infiltrating the colony.

[35] In addition, officers and their families enjoy substantial fringe benefits through the statutorily entrenched Police Welfare Fund which has current assets exceeding HK$200 million.

[36] A donation of HK$10 million by the pro-Beijing Friends of Hong Kong Association, which consists of National People’s Congress delegates and members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference national committee, in 2019, raised concern,[38] as did a 2017 donation of HK$15 million,[39] that fringe benefits may be inadequate.

Currently, these include: The four serving officers' associations wield significant power, controlling half of the voting rights on the Police Force Council.

[43] Government consultations with Police Force staff are formally conducted through the council[44] and the associations figure prominently at times of controversy.

Until 1997, the St Edward's Crown was used in the insignia, when it was replaced with the Bauhinia flower crest of the Hong Kong government.

Senior Superintendents and Chief Superintendents have a wide white stripe on their hats, Assistant and Senior Assistant Commissioners have 1 row of silver oak leaves on the edge of their hats while Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner has 2 rows of silver oak leaves, a slide with a silver vertical line on the collar of the uniform, a black baton, and a red whistle or a black and white whistle on the front right pocket.

Navy blue epaulettes worn on all uniform shirts and jackets show the officer's rank insignia (if any) and unique identification number.

Uniform officers wear a utility belt which holds a sidearm, extra ammunition, a handcuff, an extendable baton, a pepper spray, a Motorola radio with a connected remote speaker microphone attached to the shoulder and a body-mounted camera.

Retired headgear: Pith helmets, turbans and conical hats were worn (depending on the ethnicity of the officer) in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Hong Kong Police Force and Special Duties Unit have also appeared in popular video game series such as Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege and Sleeping Dogs.