For the benefit of officers' personal developments, the Force sent two sergeants to attend the programme last year - Sergeant Yau Yip-hin from Central District's Investigation Team and Woman Sergeant Lee Hang-yee from Police Public Relations Branch's Hong Kong Award for Young People Central Unit.

The other 28 trainees of the three-week intensive programme came from the Uniform Branch and Criminal Investigation Unit of the Queensland Police, the Australian Federal Customs Service and the Shanghai Public Security Bureau. The programme content covered classroom lectures on management theories and training on team building.

Besides classroom training, the trainees also attended management seminars at the Queensland Police Headquarters and a hotel in Gold Coast, where police officers at the rank of Assistant Commissioner delivered presentations. Other speakers included a football team chief, company chairmen and celebrities, all sharing the difficulties they had encountered in management and citing examples of their real life experiences.

All the trainees found the presentations useful to their jobs.

SGT Yau pointed out that the football team chief, who was formerly a police officer of the Queensland Police, gave a presentation on how he applied management theories in his team, and how he motivated his team members to win the league championship for 12 out of the 15 years the team came under his management.

WSGT Lee said a group IQ game was most memorable for her. She explained: "In the game, each group had to put 12 screws into a half-an-inch thick wooden board, but everyone found it difficult. We all tried our best to figure out the solution. Some group members gave up after several unsuccessful attempts while I persisted. However, I was still unsuccessful. When I was about to give up, I heard a burst of applause from the next group, which was successful in completing the task. After the lecturer gave us some hints, we were able to complete the task as well. The message behind this game was everything could be possible, only if we try, persist and learn from mistakes. The efforts you have made will eventually bring success."

As representatives of the Force, the two officers had tried their best to project a good image of the Force by discussing current policies and cultures, and sharing their professional expertise and experiences. They believe the Force will continue establishing a collaborative relationship with overseas police training institutes so as to provide more overseas training opportunities for junior police officers.

SGT Lee Hang-yee gets very useful training in Queensland