In an interview with OffBeat, Mr Sham spoke of his experience in the International Faculty of National Police Training, Bramshill where he has spent some 20 months developing Police training programmes under a secondment arrangement between the UK and Hong Kong.

Among the training projects which Mr Sham developed recently was a police management course which was delivered in the city of Brasov, Romania.

"This training course, which is the second of a series of three programmes, dovetails with the reform strategy of the Romanian Police in preparation for the country's accession to the European Union," Mr Sham said.

"In general, the programme aims to develop skill and knowledge in strategic management for senior police commanders with a specific focus on adopting new management techniques.

"Romania has been undergoing change in all aspects of life since 1989, posing numerous challenges to its law enforcement agencies. They are facing a most trying period, carrying the burden of the past and being laden with new problems following the country's opening up to the outside world," Mr Sham said.

Mr Sham has been seconded to Bramshill since June 2000 where he is a member of the directing staff. The faculty runs international police management programmes and other training courses on site; receives international police visitors; and conducts and co-ordinates police training activities in the UK and other countries.

The secondment gave Mr Sham opportunities to devise training projects for his counterparts from all over the world. Of all the projects, he found his involvement in the provision of training for China's Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers most fulfilling.

"It bears a special meaning to me for being able to provide training and work with colleagues from the motherland, and to be able to give assistance and support to them in a foreign country," Mr Sham said, recalling a training management programme he developed for a delegation of senior police officers from Zhengzhou PSB in March last year.

The programme was aimed at providing strategic level training to senior police training managers.

"The differences in the legal frame work, policing philosophy and style of policing posed a challenge to both participants and trainers from the design stage through to its introduction, but in the end we all benefited from it," he said.

"The Zhengzhou officers returned to China with new knowledge and ideas while I gained a much more in-depth understanding of both operational and training issues of law enforcement in China."

Turning to his work experience in the UK, Mr Sham found little difficulty in getting adapted to the UK environment.

"I am working in a foreign country with its own unique policing and legal systems and social fabric. However, you will find policing and police management very much a universal practice and law enforcement agencies face very similar problems around the world. You will be amazed by the striking similarities in the dynamics of organisational behaviour among police organisations.

"Thanks to the high standard of training I received and the high level of professionalism in the Force, I can always draw on my skills, knowledge and past experience in Hong Kong and contribute constructively to my present work at Bramshill."

Mr Sham will return to Hong Kong in June this year after completing his two-year stint.