Superintendent Mak Kwai-sing of Sports and Recreation Division, Personnel Services Branch said: "It has always been our aim to promote healthy living so we are now launching a new campaign called Quit for Tomorrow to encourage officers to stop bad habits like smoking."

The campaign will be launched in phases, the first concentrating on publicity by distributing the anti-smoking message to all police stations. The committee will also co-ordinate with Training and Staff Relations Officers, members of the Psychological Services Group and Welfare Services Group to help send the message to officers in all Regions.

Some 30 officers attended a seminar, discussing various ways of adopting a healthy lifestyle and different methods to quit smoking.

"A Smoke Free Workplace" is one of the significant sections of the campaign, aiming to encourage Force staff to formulate their own plan to stop smoking in the office.

"We do not want to force officers to stop smoking, rather we adopt a more gentle approach to encourage them to stop. We believe that smoking is a habit, if they can stop during office hours, it will help them quit smoking eventually," Mr Mak said.

The committee has also attained about 80 copies of a video produced by the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health containing advice and techniques for giving up the habit.

Mr Mak emphasised that as the campaign was to encourage officers to quit and support those who try, a "No Smoking Pledge" was being designed for them to sign voluntarily. It is a declaration signed by the smoker and three supportive friends.

He said those completing pledges would receive a campaign T-shirt and successful quitters would receive a souvenir.