Personnel and Training

     During the year, the Personnel and Training Department continued to provide the Force with well-trained and high-calibre officers to meet operational and management needs. We focused on managing our human assets effectively and efficiently, while supporting our staff with appropriate welfare and services. We can report a successful year in the achievement of these goals as well as steady progress in inculcating the culture of continuous learning among our officers.

     As for the future, our priorities are to further develop enhanced training for our officers. We intend to establish a Police College as a centre of excellence and to promote a healthy life style through increased family support. Other initiatives include the possibility of expanding competence-based performance management systems to junior police officers, and the automation of some of our manual human-resource management systems.

Personnel Wing

     The key resource of the Force is its people. With a large Force comprising some 28,000 regular officers, 4,500 auxiliary officers and 6,000 civilian officers, the Personnel Wing keeps pace with the latest techniques in human resources management to ensure cohesion in all aspects.

     Over the year, we extended the competency-based performance management system to all officers from the rank of Inspector to Superintendent. Further development is underway to improve the annual appraisal and promotion systems. These two initiatives will enable the Force management and supervisory officers to better manage the career development of their staff. The Force Discipline Adjudication Unit was established to centralise the adjudication of all discipline cases in the Force.

Recruitment

     To ensure that the Force can provide better service, the minimum academic entry requirements for Inspectors and Constables were raised. During the year, two large-scale recruitment campaigns were launched. Eventually 331 of the 8,444 Police Constable applicants and 17 of the 1,909 Inspector applicants were recruited.

     As good staff relations and an effective consultative system are of paramount importance to the efficient and effective management of the Force, three channels have been established to maintain an open dialogue. They include Staff Relations Group, various Consultative Committees and the Police Force Council.

Personnel Services

     The Personnel Services Branch offers comprehensive welfare and support services to improve the quality of life for police officers and their families. In 2001, professionally trained Police Welfare Officers at the six regional offices carried out 7,396 case interviews and 6,861 home and hospital visits. A total of 1,406 new cases were handled.

     Education programmes to promote harmonious family life and support groups for health-impaired officers were organised regularly to help officers and their families overcome problems at home and work. The Psychological Services Group saw a rise in demand for psychological counselling In 2001, with a total of 2,341 consultations made, a rise of 17 per cent compared with 1,995 consultations in 2000.

     The two Police Education Trusts awarded $4.8 million in bursaries to 1,615 children and scholarships to 14 students with outstanding academic performance in public examinations.

'We seek to expand training opportunities for our officers.'

Training Wing

Police Training School

     The school provides basic training to police recruits and continuation and promotion training to junior police officers. The campus is self-contained. A state-of-the-art Tactical Training Complex was formally opened in November 2001, providing a realistic environment where members of the Force are trained in all aspects of tactics training.

     Between January and March 2001, the school offered three tailor-made two-week training courses for 30 Public Security Bureau officers from Shanghai.

Training

     The Higher Training Division runs three major developmental command courses for the Force. A special feature of these courses is their attempt to integrate the topics covered into the wider-environment of Asia Pacific and the Mainland. Plans are afoot for members of the Junior Command Course to visit the Mainland as part of a 'China Awareness' module.

     A Youth Pre-employment Training Programme jointly organised by the Force and the Labour Department for school-leavers aged 15 to 19 provides practical training to enhance their employability and competitiveness. Between April and December 2001, 266 teenagers completed the programme.

     Smart Teen Challenge Camp is a six-day course organised by the Force and the Education Department for Form Two and Three students to enhance their confidence, discipline, interpersonal skills and leadership potential. Between April and December 2001, 356 students completed the training.

The Police Band

     The Band, which comprises a Silver Band and a Pipe Band, plays an important role in public and community relations programmes and fulfils over 600 engagements each year. The Band also plays at official events including the Flag-raising Ceremony of the HKSAR Establishment Day and the National Day. In September 2001, the Pipes and Drums were invited to perform for the World Tourist Organisation's Parade in Osaka, Japan.

     The Information Technology Training Centre enhances efficiency of the Force's major information systems through a wide range of short, vocational courses. Police instructors provided training for 6,356 personnel during the year. This is supplemented by outsourced training opportunities for another 3,479 personnel.

     In an overall drive to embrace the latest innovation and technology, the Higher Training Division is engaged in an ambitious project to develop computer-based training. The foundations for this enterprise were completed by the end of the year and the Force is now well placed to implement a more comprehensive e-learning strategy.

     The Weapons Training Division is responsible for ensuring that weapon training concepts and methodologies adopted in the Force are in line with international best practice. The evolution of interactive use of force training systems reached a new era in 2001. With the opening of the Tactical Training Complex, continuation tactics training will be extended to all armed police officers in 2002.

     On overseas training, a $5.4 million budget allowed 116 officers to attend training at police colleges and institutions in the Mainland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Sweden, Israel and Switzerland. It is the first year that Constable rank officers could attend training outside Hong Kong.

     For local training, a $4.2 million budget allowed more than 8,100 officers to attend a wide variety of job-related training courses. Another 1,684 officers utilised the Government's Course Fee Reimbursement arrangements and Training Incentive Scheme to pursue private studies.

     The Learning and Development Exhibition, held in November 2001, aimed at introducing the learning and development opportunities within and outside the Force. The event, which attracted more than 5,400 visitors, was the first such exhibition of similar scale in the history of the Force.