WPCs Hui Yee-wai and Susie Tsai are eagerly looking forward to entering the Police College in the near future for training as Probationary Inspectors. They have been groomed as Potential Officers and their forthcoming promotion speaks for the fact that officers with potential never go unrecognised by the management.

OffBeat has talked to the two young officers about how they have strived to equip themselves and how they have managed to secure their promotion.

For promotion, they attributed it to hard work and constant self-enhancement.

They said they realised that in the face of rising public expectations they had to get better equipped for their jobs.

"In a fast changing society, lifelong learning is definitely important," said Susie. "Learning keeps a person updated and better equipped for the challenges of police work!"

For lifelong learning, the officers took up courses in tertiary institutes after work.

To improve her power of expression, Yee-wai enrolled in training courses on presentation, and volunteered to act as MC at police functions. As a result, she learned how to express herself clearly and systematically, and mastered the skills of coping with sudden changes.

Susie, on the other hand, took another approach - volunteering to act as an "orderly" in her platoon. In this capacity, she could follow her commander closely and observe how the commander came up with a decision on the spot, stayed calm and made judgments under pressure. During this process, the commander was very helpful in answering her questions and in giving valuable advice.

Susie noted that POINT is a very useful tool enabling her to update herself about police work, such as knowledge management and "lines-to-take", etc. By taking various training courses outside the Force, she came into contact with different walks of life and broadened her horizons.

For the future, Yee-wai aspires to becoming an all-round police officer. "The present trend is for a police officer to identify problems before they occur. Psychological counselling is the subject I'm interested in," she noted.

For Susie, it is important for a police officer to come into contact with the different sectors of the community. "An inspector is expected to have some knowledge of everything!"

She offered this advice to junior officers aspiring to advance to the inspectorate: "Pursuit of knowledge is an essential part of life. Make an effort to acquire knowledge and don't expect other people to pass on their knowledge to you."

Yee-wai's advice for her colleagues is "to seize every opportunity to learn and watch out for suitable training courses. You never know when a chance will come."

Yee-wai (left) and Susie see learning as a lifelong commitment