Hong Kong  - Letters calling for higher pay signed by 19,000 Hong Kong police officers, more than two thirds of the city's force, were Thursday handed to a government advisory body.

The letter campaign is the biggest in the force's history and follows a long fight for better pay rates by associations representing rank and file officers in the former British colony.

Staff associations are calling for new pay scales that would add an average of 230 US dollars a month to the pay packets of the city's 27,000-strong police force.

The protest letters were handed to a government advisory body that will later this month issue recommendations on pay scales for officers until 2013, the first review of its kind for 20 years.

The letters say constables on a current starting salary of around 2,150 US dollars a month are running out of patience, adding, "Morale in the police towards the administration is at an all-time low."

The last full review of Hong Kong police pay scales was in 1988 and the current review was promised five years ago, the staff associations said.

Standing committee members say they will take into account factors including morale and "financial and economic considerations" when they makes their recommendations.

"It is up to the chief executive and the administration to consider whether and, if so, to what extent the committee's recommendations should be accepted," they said in a statement.

A decision on whether to increase police pay scales is expected to be made by the Hong Kong government in 2009 after a public consultation over the committee's recommendations. (dpa)