Since its inception, the WG, which consists of members from the Staff Relations Group, Discipline Section, Psychological Services Group and Welfare Services Group as well as Training & Staff Relations Officers (TSROs) and representatives from the Staff Associations, has adopted an understanding, corrective and early intervention approach in dealing with the problem of police indebtedness. Moreover, with membership from the Staff Associations and TSROs, the WG can accurately gauge the depth and trend of the problem as well as the concerns and difficulties of frontline supervisors.

Mr Ng said that one of the initiatives of the WG is to conduct outreach visits to frontline supervisors in the Regions to enable the WG to properly assess the extent of police indebtedness, to explore actions in tackling the problem and to provide frontline officers with a better understanding of the Force management stance on this important issue.

Since last December, a total of 225 frontline supervisors from non-commissioned officers to senior inspectors have attended these outreach visits and, so far, the feedback from all five land Regions has been very encouraging.

New Territories North Assistant Regional Motor Transport Officer, Station Sergeant Mr Wong Yin-tung, appreciated the WG's effort in gathering views from frontline supervisors and welcomed the opportunity for direct communications with it. Castle Peak Division Patrol Subunit 1 Sergeant, Mr Lau Shung-poon, said that statistics provided by the Chief Inspector (Discipline) on the actual number of officers with unmanageable debts, who were punished with non-terminatory awards versus terminatory awards following their convictions in defaulter proceedings, have shown that rumours that all such officers will be dismissed are simply not true. Each case is different and is treated on its merits. However, some officers in need of timely financial assistance were still reluctant to disclose their problems for fear of disciplinary consequences.

All WG members are convinced that there is a very strong need to adopt an early intervention approach to assist these officers. It is evident that for the vast majority of indebted officers, their debt problems began with comparatively small debts. Due to their fears of revealing their indebtedness problems through seeking assistance from their supervisors, they tried to cover up their original minor debts by borrowing from other sources, such as personal loans from financial institutions and overdrafts on their credit cards, which levy hefty interest rates of up to 30% or more per annum. As a result of the snowball effect, their original small debts would eventually grow to an unmanageable magnitude.

After much deliberation during the meetings of the WG and preparation work of the Staff Relations Group, a hotline service to be named "FINANCIAL HELPLINE" has been launched as a six-month pilot scheme from April 1.

Chief Superintendent (SR & CS) Mr Cheung Siu-wah, said that the objectives of the FINANCIAL HELPLINE are to provide a one-stop service for officers with indebtedness-related problems or enquiries who do not wish to be identified. It will provide early advice and assistance so that their problems can be dealt with at an early stage before they deteriorate to an unmanageable problem.

SRG staff will man the FINANCIAL HELPLINE and will give information and assistance on any indebtedness-related enquiries, including the Force policy on indebtedness and discipline, debt re-scheduling, bankruptcy, Individual Voluntary Arrangement and if callers seek advice/information on matters other than indebtedness-related enquiries, they will be directed to the respective subject officers/units in the Force (for example, matters concerning welfare services to the Welfare Service Group and on service conditions to Conditions of Service Section, etc).

The FINANCIAL HELPLINE is 2804-2803 and it is operated between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Friday and 9am to 12noon on Saturday (other than public holidays). Mr Cheung stressed that all enquires received through the Helpline will be kept strictly confidential.

The Helpline will accept anonymous calls for help and advice