To enhance communication between the Force and the local academia, the Service Quality Wing and the Centre for Criminology of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) co-hosted a Symposium under the theme of "Partnership with Our Community" at the Police Headquarters on November 30. The event attracted over 200 participants, including officers from the Force and academics from 15 tertiary institutions.

The symposium started with an opening speech by Deputy Commissioner (Management) Chau Kwok-leung, "The Police is committed to providing professional policing to protect the community, but only effective partnership with our community can ensure the policing measures we adopted meet public needs and expectations, and are accepted and supported."

Director of the Centre for Criminology of HKU Professor Karen Laidler, who was a member of the steering committee of the symposium, highlighted that the objective of the event was to enhance mutual understanding between the Force and academics and to encourage both sides to exchange ideas in policing.

During the two panel discussions on "Community Engagement" and "Insights from Surveys", distinguished panel speakers shared their insights on the current development and challenges of policing in Hong Kong and how to utilise contemporary methodology to strengthen communication with the public so as to solicit their support and recognition.

In addition, officers and the academics discussed a range of topics, including "Police Survey Strategy", "Use of Social Media", "Generation Gap Issues" and "Legitimacy and Support". The attendees agreed that fostering partnership with the community is a global trend and a crucial element of police work today. They had also talked about ways to engage various sectors of the community, especially the youngsters.

Commissioner Lo Wai-chung gave the following concluding remarks in the closing speech, "There has been a tremendous exchange of experience, knowledge and opinions and it has generated a great number of exciting ideas for us. The Police Force will analyse them and seek opportunities on their practical application, to further enhance our partnership with the community."