Balances in Law Enforcement Series V
- Women in Policing
There are numerous evidences showing that women police officers are just as competent and outstanding as their male counterparts. The Psychological Services Group and Staff Relations Group are going to interview a few women officers for their experiences and wisdom in work-life balance. The first interviewee is Woman Sergeant Connie Lee, who is now working in Welfare Office, Hong Kong Island.
Sergeant Connie is Force's baby-sitter
WSGT Lee has a sympathetic nature to help people, and this trait may explain why she has worked in the Welfare Office for 24 years. Back in 1985, many Force members came to know her kind-heartedness when OffBeat ran a story on how she helped a blind man as she was on her way to office.
The man was struggling to find his way to the ferry through the rushing crowds at the Star Ferry Concourse when WSGT Lee came forward and offered her hand to lead him on board. After alighting in Kowloon, she also helped him get on a bus and informed the driver about his destination. The same story was repeated every morning for nearly one month, prompting the man to write to the then Commissioner Roy Henry to express his gratitude to WSGT Lee.
Nowadays, many Force members also know her as the Force's "baby-sitter" - apparently a compliment for her dedication to helping Force families, such as visiting sick officers in hospital or helping family members after an officer has passed away.
After working in the Uniform Branch and other units for about eight years, WSGT Lee applied for a job in the Marine Welfare Office in 1982. Since then she finds the job more and more to her liking.
Now working in the Welfare Office of Headquarters and Hong Kong Island Region, WSGT Lee's major duties include rendering support to police officers and their family members seeking help from Welfare Office and paying hospital visits to officers. WSGT Lee confided to OffBeat that she enjoys her job and her goals were "helping people with my heart, and offering a lot of care and concern". For her, lending a hand would bring about a win-win situation, with the beneficiary getting assistance and the benefactor getting a sense of satisfaction.
"The satisfaction mainly came from knowing I had helped them solve their problems, and they came to realise I had done my best to help them. More importantly, many of the people I've helped now take me as a friend," she explained.
Whatever WSGT Lee encounters in the course of helping Force families seldom affects her emotion and brings too much work stress.
"Somehow I forgot the unpleasant things when I was totally devoted to helping others! To release work stress, I turn to songs and handicraft. The support of my family and two sons also helps," she explained.
WSGT Lee applies her maxim of lending a hand not only at work, but also outside office hours within and outside the Force. She was a familiar personality at Force carnivals or family days, showing her skills of face painting and knitting or helping run handicraft stalls. A long-time member of the Force Handicraft Club, she won the Annual Colours Award for Arts in 2002 - a fitting recognition of her contribution to promoting handicraft in the Force. Outside the Force, she is equally active in volunteer services, often accompanied by her sons.
WSGT Lee does her best to strike a balance between family and work, always "reserving" the evening for her family no matter how busy she is. To set a role model in caring for her children, she brought her two sons along whenever she carried out volunteer services in the past.
During the course of her volunteer services, WSGT Lee was much encouraged by the comments from some quarters that the Force is devoting a lot of resources to helping officers or their families. "I'm proud to have played a small part in this respect!' she noted.
Comments by Psychological Services Group (PSG)
Having served in the Force for 32 years, WSGT Lee has witnessed the changes in the role of women in policing. To meet the increasing demands from society, police work has become more and more diversified. Outstanding police officers nowadays cannot just rely on their physical strength but also have to develop different qualities and skills to meet these challenges. Women police officers therefore have the opportunities for their unique contribution to modern policing. For instance, the relatively "soft" appearance, patience and verbal expression of women police officers can defuse some potentially explosive situations effectively without the use of force. Sometimes the presence of women in a team can facilitate communication and create a more harmonious atmosphere among colleagues. Connie is an excellent example of applying her feminine strength in her duties and making valuable contribution to the Force. Her passion for serving others, patience, care and empathy bring comfort and support to those police officers and their family members who seek help from the Welfare Office, and foster their morale and sense of belonging to the Force indirectly. In her personal life, we can learn from her wisdom of involving her two sons in her volunteer services. This move can strike a balance between her pursuit of a meaningful life and the responsibilities of a mother in broadening the exposure of her sons and teaching them some good lessons about life and the spirit of helping others.
Seek advice and help from PSG: 2866-6206 (5th floor, 111 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay). PEN: psg@police.gov.hk
(All cases will be kept in strict confidence.)
There is a recent TV drama portraying various challenges facing women nowadays - the pursuit of career achievement, shackles of traditional expectations on females, unstable relationships, consideration of having children or not, struggles between remaining single and re-marrying, and so forth. Apart from these issues, our over 3,000 women police officers in the Force have to deal with the additional challenges posed by the nature of their jobs. Being the minority in a male-dominant police culture, women police officers have to work hard to prove their ability. They have to overcome their physical limitations and the obstacles in communicating with their male counterparts. They have to show their toughness, along with their feminine qualities. At home, women police officers are more responsible than their male colleagues in handling domestic tasks and taking care of children, but shift duties and heavy workload make the tasks particularly strenuous for them. Their pressure would double if their partners are not able to share their domestic responsibilities, or they are single parents having to assume the roles of both mother and father in the family.
The Force's "baby-sitter"