As spectators whooped with glee and excitement reached a crescendo during the "Hong Kong Rugby Sevens 2007" at the Hong Kong Stadium, a party of 40 police volunteers swung into action to keep order, along with officers on other frontlines.

Each year, this renowned three-day sport extravaganza attracts thousands of overseas visitors and local rugby fans, posing a big challenge for the Force as far as policing is concerned. The police volunteers' mission is, therefore, to ensure that the event was spared of untoward incidents. That Rugby Sevens has never hit any major snag so far attests to their efforts and those of many a uniform officer deployed at the stadium.

The police volunteers, at the ranks of Police Constable to Chief Inspector, came from different units to form a "Special Action Squad (SAS)". Following the successful staging of Rugby Sevens 2007, four of them shared their unique experiences with OffBeat.

For Chief Inspector Clement Lai from the Airport Security Unit (ASU), it was the first time he volunteered to lead the SAS during this year's Rugby Sevens. Such was his enthusiasm that he encouraged his colleagues in ASU to take up "this meaningful work".

Clement disclosed that the strategy the SAS adopted during Rugby Sevens 2007 was known as "off-stream" policing. "This means we allowed the spectators to enjoy to their hearts' content, but kept a close watch on them. This was quite an experience for me and my colleagues in the ASU because we are seldom involved in crowd management of such a big scale at the stadium," he explained.

During the event, SAS members had to face the spectators at a close range, adopt a flexible approach and show a caring attitude, Clement continued. They also bore in mind that the overseas spectators were not familiar with the Laws of Hong Kong. At the end of the day, that the spectators had enjoyed every match immensely and had appreciated the police's efforts to keep order was a great satisfaction for Clement and his SAS members.

Clement sees the SAS as a good opportunity for officers at different ranks and from different units to work closely together. With their operational knowledge and experiences, as well as their physical fitness, Clement and his ASU colleagues took the meaningful work in their strides.

Woman Inspector Ally Leung from Wan Chai Division also joined the SAS for the first time. The way the spectators behaved gave her the impression that they were treating Rugby Sevens as a carnival rather than following the excitement and action on the pitch.

Being a professional police officer, Ally found a few things happening at the spectator stands unacceptable: empty plastic beer bottles flying at the stands, 'streakers' running around on the pitch, scanty dresses, smoking at the stands and unruly drunken spectators. Confronted with this situation, she tried her best to strike a balance between keeping order and respecting spectators' rights.

"Fortunately the things I just mentioned were not quite serious and had not done any harm to the general public. But what I've done and seen as a SAS member will remain for a long time with me," she noted.

Like Clement, Ally also got a pat on the back by some spectators at the end of the event.

JPO contribution

Some junior police officers also volunteered to work on the SAS for the first time.

Police Constable Wong Chi-kong from Sham Shui Po Division takes a great interest in rugby and regularly watches matches on TV. He pointed out that the atmosphere at the Hong Kong Stadium was quite different from what he had seen on TV.

He said that as he was in plain clothes, the spectators took him as a security guard, but became friendlier and more co-operative on learning he is a police officer. On the whole, he found the majority of spectators well behaved.

"I'm prepared to join the SAS next year and would encourage my colleagues to follow suit."

Woman Police Constable Ho Chi-lee from Marine South Division found her land duty with the SAS "extremely exciting and unforgettable". Like Chi-kong, she came across less co-operative spectators at the outset, but managed to have problems resolved with patience, skills and teamwork.

Happy Valley Divisional Commander Tony Ho is grateful to SAS members for their assistance and contribution. "Without their efforts and support, the event would not have been so successful," he noted.

As Rugby Sevens becomes more popular both locally and overseas, the SAS' workload is bound to increase, and more volunteers would be required, especially the support by JPOs.

"The SAS gives officers a good opportunity to gain valuable operational experience, but more importantly it has projected the Force's caring image among the spectators who are mostly from overseas," Mr Ho concluded.