Assistant Commissioner (Operations) Cheung Tak-keung thanked the Officer Commanding PNC, Dr Wong Kwong-hing, and his training team for organising the training course. He said, "PNC was established 40 years ago as a member of the Force's Counter-terrorism Response mechanism. After rapid developments, PNC has built up capability to handle crises of different natures, besides becoming an integral part of the Force.

 

"Training is essential for the development of the PNC. To cater for training needs, it has for the first time teamed up with Police Clinical Psychologist, Ms Mak Lai-ping, who conducted a psychological study on decision-making under stress. The study will greatly benefit the Cadre.

 

"A total of 11 members of the local, the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies, including Immigration Department, Correctional Services Department, Fire Services Department, Counter-terrorism Department of the Ministry of Public Security, Counter-terrorism Unit of Dongguan Public Security Bureau, Macao Judiciary Police and Singapore Police Force, participated in the CNC and exchanged ideas on crisis negotiation training."

 

PNC Chief Training Officer, Superintendent Cheung Man-ching, told Offbeat, "The CNC this year put emphasis on balancing theory and practicality. It has been accredited with a credit transferal arrangement for the Postgraduate Diploma in Public Order Studies (Crisis Negotiation) offered by the Hong Kong University School of Professional and Continuing Education.  The diploma has been awarded Level 6 qualification - equivalent to Master Level - under the Hong Kong Qualifications Framework."

 

Senior Inspector Hung Yat-na from Counter Terrorism and Internal Security Division commented, "The two-week quality training boosted my professional knowledge and personal quality.  I hope I would save lives and resolve crises through negotiation."

 

Sergeant Fung Ka-kuen from Patrol Sub-unit Yau Ma Tei Division said, "I was impressed by the principle that a sentence of the same meaning can be presented in many ways."

 

"Through the course, we realised that empathy, care and listening are requisites to a negotiator, and that we have to apply negotiation skills objectively in resolving crises," said Police Constable Wong Wing-lam from Patrol Sub-unit Airport District.

 

After the CNC, PNC membership has increased to 78 from 60.  The 18 new members have been assigned to four negotiation teams to provide the Force with support of 24 hours a day and seven days a week.  In the first six months, they will be on stand-by duty for two weeks each month.  An experienced negotiator has been assigned to each of them as a mentor.

 

The PNC will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a series of activities this year. Watch out for more details in due course.