Throughout HKMC, officers of the Welfare Office were mobilised to provide immediate assistance and support to officers injured on the frontline. Well before the opening of HKMC, the Welfare Services Group had thrashed out a comprehensive plan for this job.

Hong Kong Island Regional Welfare Office Force Welfare Officer (FWO) Kwan Tat-kam pointed out that during HKMC, welfare staff went to hospitals to convey the concern of the Force to injured staff, helped them with hospital registrations, and took care of their needs such as refreshment and transport if necessary.

Mr Kwan went on to say that as officers might be admitted to any hospital in the territory at anytime during HKMC, the Regional Welfare Offices provided visiting services during office hours. In addition, four reserve teams were also formed to look after injured officers outside office hours. Each comprising seven welfare staff members deployed from different regions, the teams worked from 5:15pm till 9am the next day during weekdays, and round the clock on Saturdays and Sundays. "Under this arrangement, there was always welfare staff available to help injured officers in hospitals." he noted.

In addition, the Welfare Services Group had mobilised 16 officers from Personnel Wing (P Wing), ranging from Inspector to Superintendent, to form another back up team. "But the team's services were never required because the welfare staff were able to handle the situation." Mr Kwan disclosed.

Besides manpower deployment, prior liaison with hospitals was also essential. Mr Kwan pointed out that two months before HKMC, welfare staff had liaised with all public hospitals for all the necessary arrangements for officers, such as immediate medical treatment and places for officers to take a rest before and after treatment.

The Welfare Services Group also operated a P Wing Co-ordination Centre at PHQ from December 10 to 18 to co-ordinate the deployment of reserve teams and update the Senior Directorate Group and Regional Welfare Offices on information concerning injured officers, such as the number of injured officers and the conditions of their injuries.

Hong Kong Island AFWO Poon Po-cheung, a member of the Centre, said the Centre operated 24 hours a day, alternatively manned by two teams each comprising a Chief Inspector, AFWO, Senior Inspector, Executive Officer and some JPOs of P Wing.

Mr Kwan further revealed that everything ran smoothly in the first few days of HKMC, until December 17 when protesters escalated their actions and clashed with frontline officers.

Anticipating that roads might be closed if the situations worsened, Mr Kwan modified the original plan, whereby Welfare staff were immediately dispatched to the three major hospitals on Hong Kong Island, namely Queen Mary Hospital, Ruttonjee Hospital and the Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, instead of standing by at PHQ.

Citing another example of responding to changes, he recalled: "On the night of December 17 in the Ruttonjee Hospital, all the injured people, including officers and protesters, were all waiting at the same place for treatment. At that time, the TV was broadcasting news about the Force's sweeping operation. To avoid provoking the protesters, we immediately made arrangements with the hospital to turn off the TV, and provide a separate room for officers. These arrangements helped prevent possible confrontations between officers and protesters in the hospital."

Two of the officers sent to Ruttonjee Hospital, Woman Police Constable Chan Man-yee and Police Constable Yu Hon-pan, both from Central Division, were grateful for the Welfare staff's "whole-hearted help". They said they were surprised and definitely happy to see the Welfare staff around in the hospital. WPC Chan added that the Welfare staff went to the extent of driving her home when public transport was not available, fully evincing professionalism in taking good care of Force members.

Welfare Office staff go to great lengths to provide immediate assistance

Helping media on the ground

In preparing for HKMC, the Force realised that the conference would come under the international spotlight and would draw wide coverage in both local and overseas media. With this in mind, it considered how to effectively assist media representatives in their jobs.

For the first time in its history, the Force deployed 40 disciplined officers drawn from different units to work as "Media Liaison Officers (MLOs)" side by side with Information Officers from the Police Public Relations Branch (PPRB).

Well before HKMC opened, PPRB briefed MLOs and Field Commanders separately on the roles of MLOs. In addition, it arranged similar briefings for representatives of three journalists' associations and a photographers' association, in an effort to promote better understanding and co-operation between the media and police during HKMC.

OffBeat has talked to four MLOs, Senior Inspector Leung King-man, Woman Inspectors Lo Shui-lin and Chan Sin-nga, all from PPRB, and Inspector Cheung Yat-tung of Patrol Sub-Unit 4, Wan Chai Division, to find out how they performed their roles.

WSIP Lo said MLOs mainly worked in the Designated Press Areas (DPA) and Designated Public Activities Areas set up in the Victoria Park and Wan Chai, where protestors' demonstrations and confrontations with the police drew maximum media attention.

"Our main duties were to help the media on the ground, advise Field Commanders on suitable locations for DPA, and alert the PPRB Newsroom of sensitive issues and developments. We endeavoured to provide the best services in accordance with Force Values," she added.

Hung Hing Road was one of the spots where MLOs worked busily among large crowds of media representatives and protestors. Describing MLOs' jobs there, WSIP Chan said: "As you can imagine, the TV crew and photographers always dashed out from their positions to capture the most dramatic moments, with little regard for their own safety. They scrambled for every vantage point, climbed up fences and took snapshots of officers at close range. While appreciating their drive and zeal, we resorted to various means to persuade them to move to a spot where they could continue their jobs without getting in the way of the officers."

All the four MLOs agreed that with Field Commanders' full support, they managed to exercise flexibility in helping the media with their numerous requests. "For example, some journalists liked moving around to take different shots of the scene. We usually did not stop them as long as they didn't hamper our operations," said WSIP Chan.

WSIP Chan went on to give another example of how they assisted the media. "Some journalists wanted to interview frontline officers at the scene. When situations permitted, we arranged officers to speak to them because this could gain PR mileage for the Force, and the public would know more about the police's jobs," she said.

"What's protesters' next step of action?" and "What're the police's strategies?" were the questions most frequently put to MLOs by the media. Therefore MLOs kept their eyes and ears open. For example, after being tipped off about protestors' plans to hand a petition to consulate representatives, SIP Leung passed the relevant information to the media, such as the name and rank of the person who was going to receive the petition, as well as the number and the identities of the protesters, etc. "When we had this kind of information, besides reporting to the Command Centre, we immediately informed the media and escorted them, together with the petitioners, to the consulates. This job helped stave off a chaotic situation," said SIP Leung

After helping the media for several days, MLOs had their roles further recognised when protesters were held up in Gloucester Road on the night of December 17. When operations were underway, all the people present at the scene, including media representatives, were not allowed to leave, giving rise to grumbles from the press. "In this situation, both our frontline officers and journalists turned to MLOs. After MLOs had consulted the Field Commander, media representatives were allowed to leave as long as they could establish their credentials. That this small incident could be resolved showed that both media representatives and our colleagues appreciated that MLOs were capable of lending a hand, and that our job was recognised and played a useful role," commented WSIP Lo.

IP Cheung, who had left the former Police Training School just two months before HKMC, was very impressed by his colleagues' devotion to duty. "When demonstrators escalated their protests on December 17, some of the MLOs in my division offered to help even though they had finished their shifts. I was so touched by the high morale and esprit de corps they had shown throughout HKMC," he noted.

Marshalling the media is quite a good experience for these officers