EU NTS shares tactics with TWDIST auxiliary officers

Since the start of Operation TIDERIDER in June 2019, frontline officers have been facing tremendous challenges. In order to meet the additional manpower requirements, the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force (HKAPF) implemented the new Special Annual Continuation Training (SACT) programme in last September and arranged on-the-job training lasting for five to seven days for auxiliary members to support their own formations.

On the initiative of Commander of Tsuen Wan District (TWDIST) Kerry Carew, about 100 TWDIST auxiliary members attended the seven-day SACT programme and performed a variety of duties in TWDIST, including beat patrols, mobile patrols, suburban patrols, anti-crime visits, traffic enforcement, station defence and licence checks. The participating officers not only accumulated valuable frontline experience but also enhanced the communication with the local community, while raising public awareness of crime prevention over the Lunar New Year.

Assistant District Commander (Operations) of TWDIST Au Yeung Sze-wan also arranged a workshop on use of tactics and experience sharing for all participating TWDIST auxiliary members. Ten members from the Emergency Unit of New Territories South (EU NTS) shared tactics for using extendible batons, long shields and round shields, in addition to self-protection techniques. Auxiliary members learned how to form long shield check lines and other skills relating to protection and tactical advancement. In the workshop, auxiliary members acquired different tactical skills for their frontline duty and also learned how to maximise the effectiveness of different equipment.

NTS Regional Commander Patrick Laidler also attended the workshop to share his practical experience. He took the opportunity to thank the TWDIST auxiliary members for their efforts in the past seven months in support of the policing work in the District. He praised the auxiliary members as a reliable partner of the regular police and noted that their support greatly relieved the pressure on the frontline regular force.

Auxiliary officers share self-defence techniques with CDIST officers

HKAPF set up the Multifarious Self Defence (MSD) Training Team in 2019 and gathered a team of coaches with martial arts backgrounds, including Wing Chun, Karate, Western Boxing and Taekwondo, to share self-defence techniques with interested members. Since its establishment, the MSD Training Team has held courses at different police stations as well as the HKAPF headquarters.

During Operation TIDERIDER, continuous public events resulted in violent clashes across the territory. Central District (CDIST) was one of the most frequently disrupted areas in Hong Kong. Assistant District Commander (Operations 2) of CDIST Liauw Ka-kei introduced various self-defence workshops for both regular and auxiliary members to enhance communications and promote sharing of experience and knowledge. The objective was to train all off-duty officers in a variety of self-defence techniques without using police equipment so that if anything happens, they can leave the scene as soon as possible and retreat to a safe position.

As one of the MSD coaches and a licensed self-defence coach, Police Constable (Auxiliary) Lam Wong-wai from CDIST shared the history of the self-defence system, which is a tactic commonly used in military and policing in many countries. It emphasises speed and efficiency and uses the simplest and most direct methods to pre-emptively end dangerous scenarios and protect people.

During the workshop, Mr Lam demonstrated some basic techniques of the self-defence system, and shared various simple tactics to handle attacks that may occur on the street. All participants were amazed at the speed and efficiency of the various moves and agreed that the self-defence skills were practical, easy to perform and suitable for both men and women.

Mr Lam was pleased to share his techniques with his regular and auxiliary colleagues. Nevertheless, he reminded them that the self-defence skills demonstrated in the workshop were only for coping with attacks when off-duty, with the aim of protecting themselves to retreat to safe positions. During daily police duty, officers should follow the Force's guidelines on the use of force.

In the last six months, both the SACT programme and the self-defence workshops have provided valuable opportunities for regular and auxiliary officers to communicate, enhance mutual understanding and trust, and foster more cooperation. In the future, regular and auxiliary officers will continue to put the Force's motto of "Serving Hong Kong with Honour, Duty and Loyalty" into practice and work together to safeguard Hong Kong.