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IN furtherance of service quality and living the values, the NTN Region's PTU "F" Company, while under training, adopted the Precious Blood Children's Village in Fan Ling as a community based police charity project. The Children's Village, a refuge for orphans and disadvantaged children between the ages of six and 18, was identified by PTU "F" Company Commander, Superintendent David A Whyte, as being particularly worthy of support and assistance as the home was locally based with decades of history, in need of maintenance, and its children would benefit from experiencing police life and activities. SP Whyte also felt it more fulfilling for the officers to actively participate and see the fruits of their labour, as opposed to simply donating money to a cause with which they would have little contact. To this end, during November and December, 1997, "F" Company officers worked more than 1,000 man-hours on the project which was overseen by Company Headquarters personnel led by Company 2 i/c, CIP Kenny Lam Wing-shing. "F" Platoons (2) and (4), under the command of IP's Simon Kwan King-pang, Eric Chiu Chi-keung, Ronald Wong Kwok-ming and Danny Cheuk Wai-chau undertook demanding on-site renovations and landscaping of the Village which included the repair and painting of playground equipment, the removal and pruning of mature trees posing a danger to residents and buildings, and beautification work involving the clearing of grass, weeds and overgrowth. In early December, over 60 of the Village's children were then bussed to the PTU base where they participated in fun and interesting activities organised by "F" Platoon (1) commanded by IP Alex Cheung Man-cheun and WIP Maggie Law Lai-yi. The youngsters enjoyed rides on Saxon personnel carriers, orienteering treasure hunts, as well as self-defence demonstrations, assault course training and weapons displays n culminating in an evening barbecue. At the end of the day the excited but exhausted children left with "F" Company caps donated by the equally exhausted officers. The climax of the project was a Christmas party for the Village's children and staff hosted by "F" Platoon (3), commanded by overall project co-ordinator WIP Maggie Sze Yuk-sim and IP Albert Kwok On-bong. Celebrations included a great food, a series of game stalls with free prizes for everybody, individual Christmas presents given to each child by a sergeant dressed like Santa Claus, and a large quantity of new children's clothing donated to the Village through the efforts of sponsorship organised by the platoon NCOs. |
 Foxtrot Company officers upon completion of their renovations to the Precious Blood Children's Village playground equipment
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It was impossible to distinguish who enjoyed themselves more, the children or the police officers. In an unexpected display of appreciation for PTU "F" Company officers' efforts, the children performed an evening concert of song and dance n which concluded with the children presenting SP Whyte and each platoon handcrafted Christmas cards signed by all, and a basket of 170 sweets, individually gift wrapped by them. The delight on the children's faces left no doubt that they enjoyed "F" Company's Operation Precious Blood, while experiencing valuable interaction with locally based police officers. All officers taking part in the project gained significant satisfaction from its achievements of which they were justifiably proud. | |
 Police join forces with Fire Services colleagues to help save North Point residents in a recent fourth alarm fire that claimed two lives |
TWENTY-SIX police officers of Patrol Sub-unit
1, 2 and 4 in North Point Division received their District Commander Yeung Ying-wai's commendation
for their response to a fourth alarm fire that occurred in a residential building in North Point in which a
52-year-old man died and 50 people were injured.
Nearly 170 police officers were deployed to evacuate residents, man a temporary command post set up by police and the Fire Services Department, and cordon off the area. |
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Police Constable To Chi-kwong, the first officer at the scene, was patrolling the area when he saw three men attempting to put out a small fire in a ground floor shop of the building. After calling the Fire Services Department, he rushed to the building's management office and asked the watchmen for a bucket of water. But when he returned to the shop, the fire had greatly intensified. The shop's curtains were ablaze and its goods and other flammable material kept feeding the fire which began spreading to the walls and ceiling. Dark, noxious clouds of suffocating smoke began radiating quickly out of the store to other sections of the building. PC To decided to start evacuating people from a restaurant on the second floor - where the flames were starting to creep. "The smoke was so thick I couldn't see more than two feet in front of me," recalls PC To, who lost his hat during the melee. He found it hours later, burnt and smouldering, after the fire was put out. Meanwhile, PC Chan Kwan-chun arrived on the scene a minute later having ran several blocks after hearing the call over his beat radio. By that time, more police and firemen had also arrived. He noticed three people on a second floor overhang shouting for help. In a rear lane he found a long ladder locked to a pipe, and with his colleagues borrowed a fire-fighter's axe, chopped open the lock and used the ladder to climb up to the people and bring them down safely." By this time, the police noticed that strong winds were carrying smoke and sparks to an elderly people's residence on the second floor of a building that was opposite the burning building. So they began evacuating what turned out to be about 30 people from those premises. Recalled PC Chan: "Many old people were too frightened to walk down by themselves, so we began carrying them on our backs. It wasn't until I got home later that night that I realised just how heavy some of them were." | |
