As the Chinese saying goes, "The power of an individual is insignificant, but as long as we unite and co-operate, strength can be generated." Therefore when we are assigned a task, we do not care about personal ability or the importance of the task, but figure out how to get the job done. In the major public order event on July 1, 2012, the police officers posted to the Eastern Magistrates' Courts took up a seemingly easy task - providing catering support - but the process was by no means as simple as one might imagine.

 

 

Less than two weeks before the "1st July" large-scale public order event, the officers from different units in Hong Kong Island Region were on standby. They were busy preparing for an expected long-lasting and challenging public order event, including those working in the Eastern Magistrates' Courts.

 

Perhaps the work in the Eastern Magistrates' Courts is not as interesting and exciting as that on the frontline, but it was a duty that afforded no mistake. During our daily processing of a large number of defendants, detained prisoners and cases, a small error would have led to serious consequences. Then what was our new task? How could we fit in well with frontline officers? These questions were lingering in my mind.

 

 

Soon, the answer was unveiled - to provide catering support for frontline officers. We were surprised and had reservation about this job. Were we really so frail that we could only take up such a trivial errand

 

Taking a closer look at the details of the task, I could not help wondering whether or not the senior officers were making a mistake in asking us to prepare nearly 10,000 meal boxes and snacks a day for frontline officers. Soon we calmed down because we realised that every meal box represented a responsibility and hence a support for our frontline colleagues. We began to think about how to carry out the insignificant "errand".

 

All along, we are impressed with the professionalism frontline officers displayed while dealing with major public order events. Through TV footage or chats among colleagues, we all appreciate the difficulties of their job. We always want to do something to alleviate their pressure.

 

A Chinese saying goes: "Food and fodder should be ready before troops and horses set off." We must not allow officers go to the frontline with an empty stomach. Hot food and drinks are essential and urgent. In fact, we learned from this task the importance of having a good logistic support system and realised the significance of the role we played, which should not be taken lightly.

 

 

The following days, the focus of our discussion was how to send a large number of hot meals from many different locations to the frontline. We also considered a variety of possible scenarios. For example, in the three-day celebration of establishment of the HKSAR, we had to take care of the needs of the "Tier Two Company" and the "Tier Three Company" officers from Regions, in addition to PTU and Tango Company officers. A comprehensive contingency plan had to be worked out.

 

During the event, our workload was heavier than we imagined. We received a great number of meal orders every day. Besides lunch, snacks and supper, we also delivered different numbers of meals to various locations. As the time of deliveries varied, we took into consideration the unexpected circumstances that might occur on he frontline, such as road closures or diversions. Otherwise, the smallest negligence would bring great chaos.

 

Getting every job done 

 

What matters is not the nature of a task but attitude that would make the task a success or failure. Our mission seemed to be a simple one, but was very important. Every time when I saw a frontline officer holding a hot meal box, I was deeply moved. To make a contribution to the Force, it is never confined to working on the frontline. Sometimes getting a seemingly insignificant job done is an excellent support for our colleagues!

 

(This article was contributed by SSGT Cheng King-wah from the Eastern Magistrates' Courts.)