A Police Public Relations Branch (PPRB) delegation comprising Superintendent Yau Sin-man and two Senior Inspectors paid a study visit to the Austin Police Department in Texas, USA, from February 23 to March 2.

The delegation members called at the Austin Police Academy, where they met the officers responsible for various community engagement programmes and exchanged ideas and experiences. They also had the opportunity to observe preparation for a charity event "Operation Blue Santa" and a crime prevention tuition class "Citizen Police Academy". The study visit also captured the attention of the local mass media and the delegation gave some interviews.

On the last day of the visit, the delegation was invited to introduce the community engagement work of the Force in the International Association of the Chiefs of Police in Washington.

Ms Yau has commented that the study visit allowed the Force to get a better understanding of overseas community engagement strategies and programmes. This would help PPRB fine tune existing programmes and formulate community engagement plans.