Training

To help officers at all levels carry out the broad range of police functions
as efficiently, effectively and economically as possible, training focused
on developing their knowledge, skills and confidence. Considerable
emphasis is being placed on developing a more customer-oriented training
philosophy and on cultivating a strong learning ethos in which officers
can fully develop and enhance their professional abilities.

Most police training is designed and provided by the Force on its own
resources, plus appropriate local vocational and overseas training. All
newly recruited Constables and Inspectors must attend a 27-week and a
36-week residential course, respectively, at the Police Training School in
Wong Chuk Hang.

Training for male and female officers is now fully integrated with women
recruits being trained in the use of firearms. Training related to juveniles,
previously restricted to women recruits, is applied to all now.

After basic training, Constables carry out duties under a tutor for two
weeks and attend a day of instruction each month during the first two
years of their service, while Inspectors receive familiarisation training on
the job and attend a further two-week training course in their fifteenth
month of service. Most officers are sent to the Police Tactical Unit in
their second or third year of service where they are taught internal
security roles and where inspectors' leadership and management skills
are further developed.

The promotion and continuation courses for Sergeants were reviewed and
revised during 1997. Training is now aimed at teaching and enhancing
management skills, with particular emphasis placed on furthering the
Force Values and Common Purpose. Similarly, the syllabus of the
Probationary Inspector training course is undergoing a systematic review.
The review included not only the updating of legal knowledge, police
practice and procedures but also incorporating new management
initiatives and emphasising the practical aspects of community policing
and law enforcement.

It is the Force policy to encourage officers to undertake local training
courses and private studies to enhance their professional knowledge and
skills. Much emphasis is also placed on English and Putonghua language
training. Assistance in the form of financial reimbursement is available as
an incentive. The Force offers language training courses to officers in
conjunction with the Civil Service Training and Development Institute. A
total of $7.18 million was available in the financial year 1997 to sponsor
officers to attend development and vocational training programmes
overseas.

In-service management training is provided through three levels of
command courses run by the Higher Training Bureau. Inspectors attend
the Junior Command Course after serving four years in the ranks. Chief
Inspectors and Superintendents attend the Intermediate and Senior
Command Courses, respectively, within one year of promotion to each
rank. The Intermediate Command Course was changed in February to
include a comprehensive and certificated package of lectures on key
management topics delivered by professional lecturers from the City
University of Hong Kong. Complementing this, Chief Inspectors are
encouraged to attend one- or two-day training modules during the year.
These address nine core competencies for their rank. This fresh approach
to command training is being assessed and may be extended to other
courses.

The Police Driving School is the Force's primary driver training facility
and trains some 1 800 officers each year. Of these, approximately a
quarter are trained to ride large motorcycles (750 c.c.) and half attend
various four-wheel vehicle courses. They include basic courses to qualify
officers with civilian driving licences to drive government vehicles and
advanced operational driving course for Traffic and Emergency Unit
drivers.

The Detective Training School has restructured many of its courses and
will run additional courses to provide the knowledge and skills needed for
the investigation of serious crime, vice, gambling and dangerous drugs.
Officers undergoing the annual revolver continuation training and
qualification courses are improving their standards with the aim of
maintaining a 75 per cent target hit rate by 1999.

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