Phase I of the series, consisting of three presentations, was held for around 900 officers at the PHQ Auditorium on February 17 and 18.

Introducing the briefings, Assistant Commissioner (Operations) Henrique Koo informed the audience that MC6 was likely to be the biggest public order policing operation the Force had ever conducted. Awareness of globalisation issues meant that MC6 would attract the world's attention and so it was vital for all Force members to be aware of the implications of the event as well as the policing plan. Given the huge scale of commitment required of the Force, it was likely that every formation would contribute to the policing efforts in some way.

Commandant of Police Tactical Unit (PTU) Bill Suen started the briefings proper with a presentation on the "Background to MC6" during which he informed the audience that MC6 would attract around 11,000 accredited participants and would be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre between December 13 and 18 this year. Although some previous Ministerial Conferences had been free of incident, there were also some that had attracted protests and disruptions. Thus the Force had to be prepared for a "Worst Case Scenario".

On the planning side, the Government's structure was outlined and the Force's own three-tier structure, comprising D OPS' Steering Committee, Assistant Commissioner (Operations) PHQ Planning and Coordination Team (PPCT) and the nine Working Groups, was also introduced.

This was followed by a presentation on "Trends in Protest" by DC PTU Mike Cartwright, who briefed the audience on the growing trend of anti-globalisation protests, the tactics used by protestors and the recent developments in police counter-tactics. The briefing included an update on recent developments within the "Use of Force Continuum" and concluded with a reminder that "Complacency is the Mother of Disaster".

SSP OPS KW Peter Morgan is the Chairman of the Force MC6 Working Group on Public Order that is responsible for considering the public order policing strategy for MC6 and associated issues. Although the working group is considering a wide range of issues, Mr Morgan briefed the audience on some of the major issues such as the roles of other stakeholders, a review of the applicability of existing procedures to MC6 public order scenarios, options for mass arrests and the policing mode throughout the rest of Hong Kong during MC6.

DC RAILDIST Samson Yu, who chairs the Force MC6 Working Group on Manpower and Procurement, delivered the final presentation by outlining the manpower implications involved in policing MC6. He detailed the units that would be deployed, their likely roles and the impact on those formations that would supply the manpower. It was stressed that the main issues requiring attention now are identifying officers to perform specific roles during MC6, preventing an officer being committed for more than one duty, and the need for formations to carefully plan their own deployments of watch and ward duties during MC6. In respect of the latter issue, it was stressed that management of vacation leave and time-off balances, use of Auxiliary officers and enhancement of mobile patrols were all important factors.

The briefings concluded with a question-and-answer session during which some important issues were raised and some valuable suggestions offered. Mr Koo encouraged the audience to continue thinking about MC6 policing issues and to refer any further comments or suggestions to either himself, C PTU or the respective Force Working Group Chairmen.

Phases II and III of the Strategic Briefing Series will be conducted at two to three months' intervals and will follow a format similar to Phase I briefings, covering other aspects of the policing operation.

Phase IV will be a briefing on the operational plan, scheduled for October this year.

Around 900 officers have attended Phase I of the "Strategic Briefing Series"

For ACP OPS Henrique Koo, MC6 will be the biggest public order policing operation the Force has ever conducted