32-year-old Inspector Claudia is currently stationed in Ngau Tau Kok Division (NTKDIV). Before joining the Force, she made a fortune in the financial industry with her salary over one million dollars a year. Yet she resolutely changed track to apply for joining the Force in 2021.

“After graduating from university, I worked in the finance sector, mainly responsible for mergers, acquisitions and corporate financing. The exhausting duties involved many projects of listed companies. Working overnight was common as the transactions had to be completed before the market opened the next day to avoid hindering the company’s resumption of trading,” said Claudia. During the busiest period at that time, she worked an average of 130 hours a week. To increase her knowledge in the commercial field, she took the time for postgraduate study and got a degree of Master of Law awarded by the University of Hong Kong.

Having struggled for several years in the business world, Claudia was promoted to senior manager. Although her annual salary was over one million dollars, she felt that something was missing. “I pondered at that time: Given my abilities, why don’t I make more contributions to society by serving different social strata?” The Force’s strengthened publicity in recent years aroused Claudia’s interest in the diversified policing work. She once wanted to apply for the Auxiliary Police, but she gave it up because she could not spare the time for training. Her persistent enthusiasm for the Force’s duties, however, drove her to apply for Police Inspector in mid-2021, and a new chapter in her life started.

In March 2022, Claudia received Probationary Inspector Foundation Training at the Police College to fully experience the challenges. “A focus of the course is time management. The trainees have to learn how to multitask within a limited time. Whether one can complete the training depends entirely on their personal will and thinking.” Claudia overcame the difficulties eventually and graduated in November of the same year with Baton of Honour and the Commissioner’s Certificate of Academic Merit.

Claudia is the commander of a Patrol Sub-unit of NTKDIV at present. She said that the training at the Police College allowed her to understand the process of handling various cases. Nonetheless, policing work is diverse, and the basic knowledge acquired in foundation training does not cover all professional knowledge, skills and scenarios. The training for probationary inspectors focuses more on cultivating the officers’ ability in environment assessment, leadership and problem-solving. With the assistance from the station sergeants, probationary inspectors can gain valuable practical experience, which is conducive to management duties in policing work.

“When I handle cases with my unit members, we uphold empathy and serve the public with our own hearts,” said Claudia. Although she has only worked on the frontline for a few months, she is deeply impressed by the experience in which she assisted an old lady who had lost her way. The elderly woman suffered from dementia and spoke her dialect only. Fortunately, a security guard performed interpretation enthusiastically and helped the lady to communicate with the officers. With the efforts of both parties, the old lady was finally sent home safely. She deeply understands that the happiness gained from helping others far exceeds monetary return. Although her current salary is not as good as that from her post in the financial industry, Claudia emphasises that the significance of policing work cannot be measured by money, and she enjoys the sense of mission in serving the community.