Mentorship Programme gathers momentum
The Crime Officer Mentorship Programme was launched in July last year in accordance with a recommendation made by the Force Study Team (FST) on Recruitment and Retention of Crime Officers at District Level in line with the Strategic Direction on Supporting Frontline Units.
The programme aims at grooming young officers with potential to join the crime stream at an early stage of their police career. These officers are guided by a group of experienced and passionate detectives as Mentors selected in an exercise. The Mentors have been tasked with the mission of passing on the fine tradition of crime investigation work to the new blood.
So far, a total of 170 newly passing out Police Constables have been recruited as Mentees in eight recruitment exercises held in Police College.
The mentorship programme's Annual Forum was held on October 11 when a new batch of 11 Mentors and 40 Mentees were presented with appointment and recruitment letters in the presence of FST Chairperson, Kowloon West Regional Commander Fan Sik-ming, and the programme founder, New Territories South Regional Commander Yu Mun-sang.
Speaking at the forum, Acting Assistant Commissioner (Crime) John Ribeiro praised the Working Committee of the programme for sustaining the human resources development of the crime stream, as well as both Mentors I/C and Mentors for sacrificing their own time for the programme.
Mr Ribeiro thanked Divisional Commanders for offering opportunities to Mentees to acquire hands-on experience through familiarisation programmes and on-loan schemes to crime units to undertake minor investigative duties.
The highlight of the forum was presentation of the forensic and criminal investigations of the Manila hostage incident.
A "big family"
The Head Mentor, Superintendent (SP) Yuen Suet-fan, was delighted that in just one year, the mentorship programme has developed into a big family of over 300 members comprising 19 Mentors I/C (at ranks of Detective Station Sergeant to Superintendent), 111 Mentors (at ranks of Detective Police Constable and Sergeant), 170 Mentees and Working Committee members.
In the past year, the Deputy Head Mentor, SP Lo Ting-hei, had approached various Districts in the hope they would continue to support the programme and offer Mentees more opportunities to learn crime investigation work on on-loan schemes to District Investigation Teams. He pointed out that many Mentees had good potential and a passion for crime investigation work, deserving to be given more opportunities. He disclosed that many Mentees recruited in the early stage had indicated that after their first two years' service, they would apply for the Standard Criminal Investigation Course early next year.
Some Mentees have expressed their views on crime investigation work. One of them, PC Shum Hoi-kan from Patrol Sub-Unit 4 of Central District commented: "Crime duties are demanding but I'm very interested in it. My Mentor has helped me build up a solid foundation for meeting the challenges ahead." He added that he was on loan to the Central District Investigation Team and enjoyed the challenges of his job as well as the esprit de corps of the team.
PC Shum's Mentor, Sergeant Wong King-keung, commented: "Ah Kan has shown an impressive learning attitude as well as initiatives, which are essential qualities of a good detective. Interest and imagination are vital for crime work, which I can discover in him."
The mentorship programme also owes its success to the dedicated and experienced Mentors I/C who have devised various activities in their own time to enhance Mentees' exposure and understanding of crime investigation work and other relevant knowledge.
Workshops and
seminars
Last month, SP Chau Hin-hung organised a workshop on notebook caution statement and witness statement. "The workshop aimed at reinforcing the concepts regarding the Rules and Directions for the Questioning of Suspects, Taking of Statements and avoiding common mistakes. During the workshop, the participants were required to deal with scenarios and write notebook caution statement and witness statement on the spot within a time limit," he pointed out.
Earlier on, Chief Inspectors Ho Chun-tung, Chan Chiu-chin and Yau Nai-keung separately ran for Mentees a series of seminars on interview skills, exhibit handling, giving evidence in court, intelligence gathering and informer handling, case studies on domestic violence, child abuse, gambling, narcotics and triad offences. The seminars were well received by the audiences.
Apart from knowledge and experiences, these mentorship activities gave both Mentees and Mentors the opportunities to share their satisfaction with, and the challenges of, work, and to foster friendship and team spirit.
The mentorship programme aims at recruiting 200 Mentees within two years. In the recruitment exercises conducted in Police College earlier this year, over 40 per cent of Recruit Police Constables had applied to join the programme.
In the years ahead, the programme is expected to continue building on its success in nurturing new blood for detective work, and to come up with more initiatives to enhance the personal and professional developments of Mentees.
The workshop on caution
statement organised by SP Chau attracts many Mentees