Engaging the Non-ethnic Chinese (NEC) community is an operational priority of the Force, while the Force also encourages NEC to join its mission of serving the community. From May 2011 onwards, 25 NEC have been recruited as police officers. Their ethnicities include Pakistani, Filipino, Thai, Indonesian, Portuguese, Korean, Nepalese and Venezuelan.

The Force Working Group on NEC launched the Force Strategy for Engaging NEC in 2011 with a view to assisting Formation Commanders in engaging the NEC community. The strategy emphasises the importance of liaison, education and assistance.

In tandem with the Force's strategic direction in engaging the NEC community, the Police Community Liaison Assistant (PCLA) Scheme was launched Force-wide in 2013 to recruit NEC who are fluent in Urdu, Hindi, Thai or Nepali as PCLA in Police Districts. At present, there are 15 PCLA posts in 14 Police Districts: Wan Chai, Eastern, Yau Tsim, Kowloon City, Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po, Wong Tai Sin, Sau Mau Ping, Kwun Tong, Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing and Lantau.

To boost the Chinese proficiency of NEC youths and equip them with sufficient knowledge, Yau Tsim District (YTDIST), Yuen Long District (YLDIST), Kwai Tsing District and Kowloon City District (KCDIST) are running Chinese classes and a wide range of activities under "Project Gemstone", "Project Himalaya", "Project Go Front" and "NEC – Star Making Project". So far, six NEC youths who had joined the projects have been recruited as police constables.

To provide quality report room services for NEC community and to support frontline officers, the Force initiated a project known as "TRANSLINK" to provide instant telephone interpretation services in seven common NEC languages, namely Urdu, Nepali, Hindi, Punjabi, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai and Tagalog, through teleconferencing in 10 report rooms.

The last two months saw different formations and units offer different projects and activities to engage the NEC community. Below are some of the efforts.

First 'Project Himalaya' Nepalese mentee recruited as RPC

Acting YLDIST Commander Kerry Carew presented on October 16 a souvenir to Recruit Police Constable (RPC) Niraj Gurung, who is the first Nepalese mentee of "Project Himalaya" being accepted as a RPC. He is also the first Nepalese RPC since 2009.

RPC Gurung said "Project Himalaya" had helped him improve his Chinese language proficiency and widen his horizons through various activities. His leadership skills and team spirit were also enhanced through interacting with other mentees.

Besides RPC Gurung, four members of YLDIST's "Strategy of Joining Force Project" have also been accepted as RPCs. Mr Carew appreciated the efforts they had made and encouraged them to make the most of their RPC training to build a solid foundation for their police careers.

YTDIST engages NEC in fighting drugs and crime

The Nepalese Task Force of YTDIST, Narcotics Bureau, YTDIST Police Community Relations Office (PCRO) and the New Home Association joined forces in offering an anti-drug talk in Yau Ma Tei Police Station on September 18 for 30 Nepalese children and their parents.

The talk covered commonly abused drugs, trend of drug abuse and the laws controlling drugs, arousing a great interest among, and drawing many questions from, the audience.

In another effort, a party of YTDIST officers paid a visit to the Christian Action's Chungking Mansions Service Centre on October 29. During the visit, Divisional Commander of Tsim Sha Tsui Division Kwok Ka-chuen delivered a presentation on the crime trend and called on the centre staff to help raise their clients' awareness of crime prevention. He also encouraged the staff to provide the police with information on a taskforce hotline.

The social workers of Christian Action and their clients shared their views of the difficulties and challenges facing refugees and asylum seekers in Hong Kong. Both parties also exchanged views on matters of cultural sensitivity, police stop and search powers and enforcement priorities. The officers are looking forward to building a long-term partnership with the Christian Action.

The Christian Action is a registered charitable organisation with a centre in Chungking Mansions providing services to refugees and asylum seekers to cater for their basic needs.

KCDIST 'Star Making Project' engages NEC students

District Commander KCDIST Jocelyn Cheung, together with the Permanent Vice-President and Principal Consultant of Kowloon Chamber of Commerce (KCC), Mr Li Fuk-ki, and Chairman of KCC, Mr Conrad Lee, visited the students attending a Chinese language class of the "NEC - Star Making Project" for NEC at Caritas Community Center, Kowloon, on October 25.

Speaking to a group of Indian, Nepalese, Pakistani and Filipino students, Miss Cheung encouraged them to do more exercises in Chinese writing and invited them to join the Junior Police Call (JPC) activities. At the meeting, Arsalan, a Pakistani student, said he was eager to improve his Chinese writing for his plan to apply for the post of police constable.

The project has entered its sixth phase and 40 NEC students are attending Chinese language classes every Sunday until May next year.

NTS enhances liaison with NEC leaders

New Territories South (NTS) Region hosted a liaison gathering for NEC community leaders on October 20 with Regional Commander Lui Hon-kwok introducing the characteristics, strategic directions and action plans of his Region. He also thanked the guests for supporting the police in preventing and fighting crime.

TMDIST JPC hosts fight crime party

The Tuen Mun District (TMDIST) PCRO hosted the Tuen Mun Fight Crime EID Party 2015 on October 3 to celebrate the Islamic New Year with the NEC members of TMDIST JPC and enlist their support for fighting crime.

Among the officiating guests were Mr Chan Pui-kin, member of Tuen Mun District Fight Crime Committee, Mr Jahan Zeeb Khan, Chairman of Hong Kong Youth Development Association, as well as teachers and parents from NEC schools.

In the party, NEC youngsters were encouraged to actively take part in fight crime publicity campaigns. The guests also led the JPC NEC members to Tai Hing Estate, Tuen Mun to hand out fight crime leaflets to residents.