Off Beat

Learning never stops

ACP TRAINING Millie Stradmoor (centre) and SP Higher Training Jim Lisle (right) with the Superintendents taking the course IN February 1998, Senior Force Management authorised the introduction of a graduate certificate in Police Management as an integral part of the Senior Command Course, and the smiles on the faces of the senior officers pictured above are as much expressions of happiness as of relief at having completed the first six months of the intensive 12-month programme.
The certificate is a stand alone qualification awarded by Charles Sturt University of Australia, as well as the first year of a Masters Degree in Public Administration (Policing) awarded by that institution Ёа and is the same "Senior Staff Development Programme" as that taught at the Australian Police Staff College.

Graduation depends on satisfactory completion of 12 papers over 12 months of the internationally recognised course which consists of four subjects: Management Theory and Police Practice; Contemporary Issues in Policing; Policing and Organisational Change; and Applied Command Management.
Last week, ACP Training, Millie Stradmoor held a small function to congratulate the first batch of superintendents who are now half way through the programme. "Everyone has done so well in the course that the professors were extremely (and pleasantly) surprised," she said. "I know it has taken a lot of personal time and self-sacrifice, so I say to you all well done."
Indeed, participation in the certificate programme is on a voluntary basis in line with the philosophy of self development and requires dedication and self-sacrifice on the part of the senior officers involved, who are doing the course work after their duty commitments in the evenings and on weekends.
Said SP Mariana Cheung Fung-yee: "I've always reinforced the importance of doing homework to my four-year-old son, but because I've been so busy with this course, he keeps telling me not to do so much homework Ёа and to pay more attention to him."
Echoed SP Geoff Merrick: "When my eldest son (who's now 23) was a little boy lamenting how hard studying was, I'd always say: 'Look, nothing in life is easy'. Now, when I'm slaving over my studies and complaining about it, he just reminds me of what I used to say to him."
Said Jim Lisle, SP Higher Training: "The course is very hard work. Sacrifices have to be made by the participants to their families and leisure time (most are married with kids). But what I've noticed is that people have viewed this not as a competition between one another, but rather as a competition with oneself."
Course participant SP Winnie Chiu Wai-yin: "The process in actually getting the material, sifting through it, preparing notes, then finally writing Ёа and finishing a paper Ёа is quite satisfying."
"Here at Training Wing (where we are setting up a resource centre to house study materials, computers with an Internet link-up, etc) we're trying to get the message across that learning is a never ending process," said SP Lisle.
"The standard of this group of students has been very high, and the grades and support for this course have been astounding," said ACP Stradmoor, who told those present she hoped they wouldn't stop their studies after graduating.
"Education is a lifelong pursuit, and this programme demonstrates the commitment of the Force to be a learning organisation," she said. "As the Chief Executive Tung Chee-Hwa commented in his Policy Objectives regarding his desire to see Hong Kong developing further as a learning based community: 'As our society becomes more knowledge based, continued education becomes more than just the preserve of keen learners. It plays an important part in helping us to make progress in society'."
The first group of SPs in the programme are: Mariana Cheung Fung-yee, Cheung Kwai-kee, Esther Choi Yuen-han, Shirley Chu Ming-po, Victor Fung Tak-yin, Albert Hoe Tak-yan, Kim Adams, Mathew Lau Yan-sang, Phil Bouttle, Bernie So Kam-tong, Geoff Merrick, Winnie Chiu Wai-yin, Stephen Verralls, Gareth Williams, Grace Tsang Wei-lin, and Ken Reed.
Any SP or above interested in joining the programme should contact the Course Director, Jim Lisle, SP Higher Training, on 2882-7064.

Transport Bureau farewell salute

ON 26 October, Transport Bureau, which was under the command of ACP Information System Wing, was as per CP directive placed under the command of ACP Support Wing. To mark the transition, staff of Transport Bureau held a vehicle parade at the Police Training School on 21 October in which ACP IS Peter Halliday took the farewell salute and reviewed a magnificent convoy of Force vehicles from traffic motorcycles, to Force Mobile and Regional Command Units, to the mighty Saxon, to the "Trooper".