Hong Kong takes centre stage at Interpol Symposium
The Force's commitment to training has been recognised when Assistant Commissioner (Training) Mr David Thomas was recently nominated to chair Interpol's 14th Symposium for Heads of Police Colleges, held at its headquarters in Lyon, France. The event was staged over a period of three days in December and was attended by around 100 delegates from 47 countries.
Mr Thomas told Offbeat that it was both an honour and privilege to chair the Symposium, which involved such diverse representation. There were delegates from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Mainland, as well as several African, European and Asian countries.
In officially opening the Symposium, Interpol's Secretary General Mr Ronald Noble, explained that "Police training had undergone a revolution over the past 30 years and had moved away from a focus on autocratic methods towards a quality process of sustainable learning". He added that "Police Colleges were at the forefront of this change, and their lecturers now came from the Police and from civilian life in order to pass on their valuable expertise in numerous fields".
During the Symposium there were some 30 presentations covering a wide range of topics including: training at both basic and advanced levels; relationships between colleges and higher training establishments; international co-operation; ethics training; modern training matters; and, training for instructors. Mr Thomas stated that he had been impressed by the results that some countries had achieved. Whereas many countries had a long and well-established reputation in achieving the highest quality of training, it was pleasing to see that the rapid progress that some developing countries were now making.
Mr Thomas added that "in terms of developing our own Police College, the Symposium provided some useful insights and illustrated the necessity of professionalising the training process, recognising achievement and developing a well-rounded officer with the requisite practical and academic skills required of a modern day police service".
In addition to chairing the Symposium, Mr Thomas delivered a presentation on 'Training in the Use of Force', featuring our firearms and tactics training, in which we are recognised as one of the world leaders. Following the presentation, a number of countries expressed interest in learning more about our programmes with possible follow up visits to Hong Kong.
In conclusion, Mr Thomas stated that "the Force's role at the Symposium has helped place us on the international training map. That will be helpful in developing partnerships in the future as well as developing our own college".
In order to share knowledge, the minutes of the meeting, once confirmed, together with the presentations will be placed on POINT under the Learning Portal. 
ACP Training, Mr David Thomas, chairs Interpol Symposium