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It can happen here DEAR SIR, Having been closely involved in both the Garley Building and Mei Foo Sun Chuen fire enquiries, I have become acutely aware of the dangers of poorly maintained smoke doors. Forty-seven of the 49 deaths which resulted from these two tragedies were a direct result of smoke doors which had been either wedged open or were defective. Despite all the recent publicity in Hong Kong, the condition of smoke doors in many police stations throughout the Force leaves much to be desired. Encouraging people in police stations to keep smoke doors shut is simply not good enough. As a good employer, it is the duty of the Force to provide well maintained smoke doors which fit properly and shut automatically without slamming. Yours faithfully D C Fremaux RCU 3 KW P.S. For those who think that a fire would never occur in a police station, they may be interested to know that, during the Garley Building fire investigation, there was a small fire, caused by an electrical fault, in the team incident room. Fortunately there were officers present at the time and skilful use of a handy OB prevented the flames from causing damage.

Immune DEAR SIR, As an ADC Crime in the territory's busiest district in terms of crime reports, I was perplexed to know why the recent hepatitis vaccination programme for frontline officers appears to have by-passed the 209 crime officers that make up Divisional Crime Investigation units, and District Crime and Anti-Triad units of Yau Tsim District. Some officers (especially those who work outdoors, perform shift duty and deal with real blood and people who can communicate diseases) have given up the wait and have paid out of their own pockets for inoculation. When can officers in YT District expect to be included in the hepatitis vaccination programme? D J Grant ADC Crime YT Reply . . . DEAR SIR, The hepatitis screening and vaccination programme has been running since 1996, and in that time 8,734 officers have been screened. Although the screening was initially directed at those officers who were most at risk of infection, such as SDU Water Team, SDS Teams, Traffic, etc., it has long since been extended Forcewide. It is our aim that all officers will eventually be screened. However, we are limited by the number of spaces that the Medical and Health Department can make available. We are presently screening about 2,000 new officers a year and hope to increase this in the future. Since the start of the scheme, 247 officers in District SDS Teams in Kowloon West Region have been screened. Screening for other officers is allocated on a regional basis. In November 1996, and again in September 1997, nominations from crime officers in KW were sought, and 251 were screened. Now that regional crime headquarters units have been screened more places will be available for district officers. You can be sure that the interests of crime officers in YTDIST have not been overlooked and spaces will be made available to you, and to other district crime officers in KW, on the basis of a fair regional allocation. P G Hunt SSP Support

Most traffic "accidents" aren't DEAR SIR, In my opinion, apart from poor road conditions, most of the traffic "accidents" in Hong Kong are due to speeding, tailgating and reckless driving. Therefore, the term traffic "accident" is in fact a misnomer and should be called a traffic "case". In this light, the "Accident Investigation Division" should be renamed accordingly since it would facilitate both the police and the victims during investigations. A traffic sergeant (name supplied) Reply . . . DEAR SIR, I refer to your letter addressed to the editor of OFFBEAT in which you proposed changing the term "Traffic Accident" to "Traffic Case". Your letter has been referred to Traffic Headquarters for reply. Your proposal is agreed. As you rightly point out most "accidents" involve human error and are therefore avoidable. Some overseas countries have already begun to use other terms (e.g. "crash" in the UK) instead of "accident". I will refer your proposal to the Road Safety Council for future consideration. Yours sincerely Lai Pak-hay CSP Traffic

Remembering fallen officers DEAR SIR, A recent article in the UK magazine Police Review (26 June 1998) covered the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington which lists all officers killed in the line of duty. While Hong Kong does not suffer from the same high attrition rate as law enforcement officers in the USA (or indeed other countries), perhaps due consideration could be given to a similar such memorial for officers killed in the line of duty here in Hong Kong. At present, as far as I am aware, only officers killed in the two World Wars have this honour. Such a memorial would, I am sure, be both meaningful and also ensure that the officers concerned are properly recognised and immortalised for their selfless action for future posterity. (name and post given)

Water, water everywhere DEAR SIR, While I was under training at the Police Training School (late 1992 to early 1993), the swimming pool was under repair. As a result, I was not trained in water lifesaving skills and had no opportunity to take the lifesaving bronze award. As you are aware, such training is important should I come across a person who needs to be rescued from waters - whether I am on duty or just out walking with my family and friends. I would be very grateful if PTS could consider arranging a life saving course for those officers like myself who did not have the opportunity while in PTS to learn this important skill or who now have an interest to improve themselves. I look forward to reading their reply. WPC 56174 (Jessica) WTSDIST Reply . . . DEAR SIR, According to our records we did have one or two recruit police constables who did not attend a lifesaving bronze award (BM) course due to a major filtration plant default in late '92-early-'93. Instead, they all passed an Advanced Resuscitation Certificate (ARC) examination which includes cardio-pulmonary resuscitation training. Due to the heavy usage of the PTS pool we do not run special courses on lifesaving for individual Force members. Recently, the Police Swimming Club conducted a seminar for all regions, mostly attended by DSROs, during which detailed information regarding lifesaving and swimming courses organised by various sporting bodies (Police Sports and Recreation Club, Provisional Regional Council and Provisional Urban Council) was provided. I would therefore suggest that if any officers wish to attain or revalidate a lifesaving qualification they should contact their respective DSROs for the said information, as the BM or ARC attained at PTS expires after three years anyway. For further enquiry, they may contact Thomas Cheung Wui, CIP Chief Physical Training Instructor, Police Training School on 2814-4388. I hope this reply addresses the officer's concern. Yours sincerely Chow Oi-wang for Commandant PTS

The $150 CRAZY CAPTION CONTEST winner is Dave Lewis of PTU HQ Station Sergeant: "Constable, when I said watch that man with the one eye, I didn't mean literally." As always, winners should send OFFBEAT receipts with their name, UI and ID numbers so that reimbursement can be made through their bank accounts.