Such was the insight gleaned by officers of an ad hoc task force of Castle Peak Division following their success in cracking over 26 cases ranging from attempted petty theft to robberies, during the past six months.

Leading the 13-member task force, Station Sergeant Leung Yiu-kwong said that their work was quite different from those of Patrol Sub-units (PSUs) and Divisional Investigation Teams.

"Our major responsibility is to study the recent crime situation in an area and mount operations to tackle specific crimes which are currently plaguing the community rather than investigating individual cases," said Mr Leung

Sergeant Li Sun-choi added: "To familiarise ourselves with the crime trends and culprits' modus operandi, SSGT Leung, SGT Cheung Kwok-wang and I study the crime messages compiled by crime officers everyday before having discussions with our team-mates on strategies."

"Discussions are very important because our team members often come up with lots of good ideas. As we served in different PSUs before joining the task force, each of us have our own sources of information which assists with our on-going investigations," SGT Cheung said.

SSGT Leung emphasised that colleagues' experience and professionalism also played a vital role in the success of operations.

"We often come across unexpected incidents such as a suspect taking a route not in our plan when we ambush or set up observation posts. These 'obstacles' can only be removed by our team-mates with their experience, sophisticated techniques and high degree of alertness," said SSGT Leung

Other team members also agreed that their working experience in the task force helped improve their investigative skills. Police Constable Jackie Sze Kwok-wai said: "I learned how to look at things from a culprit's point of view and it helps me predict his next move."

PC Ku Sze-ching added: "I enjoy working with the task force because all members, irrespective of rank, are given the opportunity of contributing and it really gives me a lot of job satisfaction."

The outstanding performance of the task force was highly praised by their seniors and a total of 24 compliments, ranging from Assistant Divisional Commander's Compliment to Regional Commander's Compliment, were handed to them.

SSGT Leung stressed that their operations would not have been such a success without the support of, and information offered by, other CPK officers.