EU KW officers
study how Lion City
deals with major incidents
A six-member delegation from the Emergency Unit Kowloon West Region (EU KW), led by Chief Inspector Lai Kin-pui and comprising Inspector Hung Yat-na, Sergeant Yeung Chung-pang, Police Constables (PC) Yip Chuen-hau, Wong Kin-sun and Leung Man-yee, visited the Singapore Police Force from November 14 to 17.
One of the most valuable experiences the delegates gained from the trip was an on-site observation of a large-scale counter-terrorist attack exercise, code-named "Exercise Heartbeat Delta 2012", on a beach at Resort World Santosa.
The delegates were impressed by the professionalism and coordination of the Singapore Police Force and other government agencies in handling physical and chemical terrorist attacks. During the exercise, members of the Singapore Police Cadet Corps (SPCC) made up by school students served as actors and the Santosa Safety and Security Cluster Working Group was fully engaged with the government agencies. The community engagement policing concept was fully recognised and the delegates were particularly impressed by its effectiveness.
After the exercise, the delegates visited the Special Operations Command (SOC) and were briefed by the Deputy Commander, Mr David Scoff Arul. The mission of the SOC is to provide the highest level of tactical option to combat crime, terrorism and public disorder. The largest unit of the SOC is the Police Tactical Unit, the members of which are well trained to handle major and emergency incidents. Their job is, to some extent, similar to that of the EU, except they are deployed to perform heavily-armed high profile foot patrol around high risk establishments and locations and will not respond to an emergency call unless it is classified as a major incident of a serious nature. In exchange, Chief Inspector Lai also introduced the roles and capability of the EU to SOC officers.
The delegates also visited the oldest police division in Singapore, the Central Police Division at Police Cantonment Complex. The Commander of the division explained its structure, the local community engagement policing and the jobs of various police units, with focus on the Ground Response Force for conducting mobile patrols and handling emergency calls from the public. The Commander also introduced the Fast Response Vehicle and other equipment to the delegates. In terms of training and job charter, it plays a role between those of a EU and a District Mobile Patrol car in Hong Kong.
At the invitation of the Deputy Commissioner of the Volunteer Special Constabulary (VSC), the delegates toured the VSC headquarters and museum and learned about its history and capabilities.
PC Leung commented after her trip: "The visit was an eye-opening experience for me. Most importantly, I had a valuable opportunity to share knowledge and experience with our overseas counterparts."
Singapore
officers
explain
the
functions of a Fast Response Vehicle