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24 officers from the New Territories North (NTN), New Territories South, Kowloon East, Police Tactical Unit Headquarters and Police College completed the eight-day Rural Functional Training Course at NTN Regional Headquarters and Civil Aid Service (CAS) Headquarters between October 5 and 13.
The course comprised two parts. The first three days were hosted by Quick Reaction Force (QRF) of NTN, Key Points and Search Division and registered mountain craft coaches, covering professional knowledge such as day/night trail orienteering, use of map and compass, countryside search and key point search. Subsequently, trainees attended the five-day training provided by CAS in mountain search and rescue (SAR) to learn about mountain orienteering, SAR techniques for discharging frontline mountain SAR duties safely and effectively.
Chief Inspector of QRF NTN Ku Chun-nam, a trainee of the course, said that the course content emphasised both theory and practice. It strengthened the trainees’ confidence in performing SAR duty or searching for culprits and evidence in the mountain and forests. In his conclusion speech, Senior Operations and Training Officer (Tactical Force) of CAS Man Wai-kong encouraged the trainees to strengthen their knowledge and skills in SAR for conducting operation in mountains safely and effectively. He hoped that the CAS would enhance co-operation with the police and other rescue units when tackling urgent mountain accidents.
The course deepened the officers’ understanding about mountaineering duties of CAS while the instructors and trainees from different formations also took the opportunity to exchange experience in mountain search and promote collaboration between the two parties in operation. Upon completion of the course, trainees were awarded with the Certificate in Mountain SAR Training under the Qualifications Framework Level 3 and Mountain Craft Training Certificate Level 1.
