Frontline police officers often come across citizens with different problems, in particular those having a suicidal tendency. What are the ways to pacify them and help them brace up? Modern psychiatry believes suicide happens under abnormal circumstances or when a person's mental state turns abnormal. What frontline officers have to do is to help people attempting suicide "get back to normal". The following story is about an attempted suicide case handled by Emergency Unit (EU) officers from Kowloon West Region. In the case, they not only saved a life, but also experienced the significance of police work.
Irreversible consequence
One night, the EU officers were alerted to handle an attempted suicide case. Attempted suicide is not rare in Hong Kong and the officers have dealt with such case before. Experience reveals that people trying to kill themselves are mostly agitated. They might even lose their mind or become despairing. Even a short delay in rendering help might result in an irreversible consequence.
On arrival at the scene, the officers found a more complicated case. The flat was filled with the odour of burning charcoal, where a young woman closed all windows and locked herself up. The officers heard the woman weeping. Having no idea of what was going on inside the flat, the officers acted separately. Some tried to comfort the woman outside main door; some turned off the gas main switch of the flat, while others informed the Regional Command and Control Centre of the situation and asked for reinforcement. Despite the urgency of the situation, the officers stayed calm and monitored the woman's mental state in preparation for further actions.
The woman kept crying but talked to the officers. To avoid provoking the woman, the officers simply consoled her patiently outside the door, hoping she would calm down.
Care and assistance help
When it comes to dealing with women attempting suicide, female officers might have a bigger role to play than their male counterparts because people of the same gender have more common things to share emotionally and spiritually, making it easier to strike a chord with the ones in despair. Therefore, after a female officer had talked to the woman on the phone to show care and dissuade her from killing herself, the woman eventually opened the door - a happy ending following an operation lasting for just about 10 minutes.
Even though the woman opened the door, her problems remained unresolved. Entering the smoke-filled flat, the officers found an iron pot filled with burning charcoal on a stove. This showed she was determined to kill herself. To help the woman dispel illusions in her mind, the officers talked and listened to her patiently. In the end, she promised the officers "not to do such stupid things again".
Satisfied outcome and pride
Helping people attempting suicide get back to normal is more than rendering police assistance - a life has been saved and a family has been prevented from breaking up. Though not knowing the people they are helping, officers, showing care and concern, can help them dispel negative emotions, and steer them clear of the road of self-destruction.
In their mission, the officers were proud of the outcome of their efforts. And they are prepared for helping more people in need.
(This article was contributed by PC Ho Wai-lam of No. 2 Platoon, Emergency Unit, Kowloon West Region.)
Police Yung Shu Tau to capture professional knowledge with documentary
Police officers acquire different kinds of professional knowledge and precious experiences from various posts. Some of the knowledge and experiences are tacit in nature and are therefore difficult to be stored and disseminated. In 2011, Police Yung Shu Tau (Storytelling Group) was formed with the aim to cultivate a culture of storytelling and knowledge sharing within the Force and make a contribution to the Force's knowledge management by storing and inheriting Force members' professional knowledge in many fields.
In the past two years, Police Yung Shu Tau has provided a new platform for Force members to share their stories. More than 10 officers in different posts and with different professional backgrounds have told their police stories in Offbeat through Police Yung Shu Tau.
After months of effort, Police Yung Shu Tau will soon launch a short documentary film on the precious experiences of officers in planning and executing the policing operation for World Trade Organisation's Hong Kong Ministerial Conference (WTO HKMC) in 2005.
HKMC File
Between December 13 and 18, 2005, Hong Kong hosted the 6th WTO HKMC, posing one of the toughest challenges to the Force after establishment of HKSAR in 1997. The Force was responsible for the security of over 6,000 official representatives from about 150 member countries as well as for handling about 3,000 media representatives, 2,000 non-government organisation representatives and over 10,000 anti-globalisation activists, particularly about 2,000 Korean farmers and other protestors known for aggressiveness.
Though encountering various difficulties and hardship during the operation, officers showed great team spirit and a high degree of discipline and perseverance, making operation a great success.
The experiences and good practices gained from planning and executing the operation have been adopted as a benchmark for other large-scale operations. A number of good practices are being used these days. Police Yung Shu Tau will launch "HKMC File" documentary film to illustrate preparation of the operation, including training, public relations, manpower deployment and logistic support. The film will also show officers' bravery, tenacity, devotion to duties and altruistic teamwork. Many officers might still have memories of the HKMC operation. Watch out for the date of screening "HKMC File" on POINT.
