Two such officers have shared with OffBeat their experience of taking a 12-session evening course in presentations and public speaking at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

These sessions introduce members to the skills of public speaking, and provide ample and varied opportunities for them to present talks. The types of talk included presenting a news item, explaining one's job duties, giving individual, group and business-style presentations, and giving longer talks on set topics.

The course is highly interactive. The Chinese University's course tutor, Mr Paul Surtees, has this to say about the course members: "The youngsters from the Hong Kong Police Force, undertaking these studies in their free time, set a good example to their peers. Most of the other course members come from the business world. The police students are unfailingly well prepared, and make a great effort to improve their public speaking skills. They react positively to the feedback given on their addresses, and work hard to improve on any weaker areas. As a result, they build up their confidence and ability in public speaking as the course progresses. We are glad to have them with us."

Let's see what some of these police officers have to say about the course.

Twenty-seven years old Alan Tse from PSU4 of Tuen Mun Division said: "As I am pursuing the post of Probationary Inspector, I believe it is vitally important to be able to communicate my thoughts and ideas effectively to colleagues and citizens, and to be able to use different tools and media to get messages across successfully. This is the main reason for me to take this course in my spare time.

"The course has been providing me with a lot of chances to practise speaking in front of an audience. It has made me more confident and mature in delivering presentations. In addition, my technical skills of delivering messages to the public have also been improved significantly. Therefore, I strongly recommend this course to my colleagues so that they would be able to handle the competitiveness in our changing society."

Said another course member, 26-year-old Jay Lui from PSU1 of Tsuen Wan District: " As a frontline officer, I strongly believe that communicating with colleagues and the public effectively and clearly is the key to getting the job done. This is why I take the course with Alan.

"During the course, the course members developed their skills of delivering presentations with different methods. I am now more confident of delivering a message to the general public, and communicating with my colleagues. So it's a very useful course for other officers."

The course tutor, Mr Paul Surtees, with Alan and Jay