More officers earn praise from local and overseas
Once again more frontline officers have earned the praise of the people they have served, including a US resident. The officers came from four land divisions, Kowloon West Traffic and the Marine Region, but what our Mariners have done show that they respond to distress calls not only at sea but also on land.
The Marine officers - from Marine South Division (MSDIV), Cheung Chau Division (CCDIV), and Police Launches 32, 24, 74C and 55B - have saved the lives of a 70-year-old man who had suffered from a heart attack, and a 58-year-old woman who had lost her way on Lamma Island and spent a night in the wilderness.
The woman's 61-year-old husband, Mr Cheung Ying-chun, was so impressed with the help by MSDIV and CCDIV that he, accompanied by his family members, friends and neighbours, called at Marine Port District last month to present banners to MSDIV and CCDIV.
Searches on Lamma
On a Sunday in April, Mr Cheung and his wife joined a local tour group for a seafood lunch at Sok Kwu Wan on Lamma Island. Before going ashore, they agreed to meet at a certain spot at Sok Kwu Wan, but Mr Cheung later found no trace of his wife. He immediately approached a police post for help.
Based on the information provided by Mr Cheung, OC Lamma Island and Peng Chau, SIP Wong Wai-hon immediately mobilised his men to comb the whole island for nearly three hours in the afternoon but to no avail. In the evening, he called out a Police Tactical Unit platoon to conduct another search until midnight, but there was still no sight of the missing woman.
Early the next morning, SIP Wong called for reinforcement from MSDIV and dispatched more search parties to cover the shores and hillsides of Sok Kwu Wan.
Meanwhile, Police Launches 32 and 24 carrying out anti-crime operations nearby joined the search to cover the waters near the shores, piers and fish farms.
Eventually a search party led by Sergeant Lau Hung-chor from Lamma found the missing woman lying in the undergrowths on a hillside about 100 metres above sea level. Although having spent a night in the wilderness, she was none the worse for her ordeal.
Another elderly saved
In another case involving the Marine Police, a Ms Tam wrote to the Training and Staff Relations Officer of Marine Outer Waters District to thank Station Sergeant Ip Kam-man from PL74C and Senior Police Constable Ho Kong-wah from PL55B for saving the life of her 70-year-old father.
The two off-duty officers were practising orienteering from Fanling to Sha Tau Kok when they heard a woman's cries for help near the Lau Shui Heung Reservoir. Responding to the call, they found a man lying on a footpath with blood on the forehead, and without any vital signs of life.
On learning from the man's wife that he had diabetes and was suffering from a heart attack, the pair, who have received first-aid training, immediately applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Soon after this, the man regained consciousness and was taken to North District Hospital.
More officers praised
Meanwhile, in six other cases, officers from Airport District, Cheung Sha Wan Division, Sha Tin Division, and Sha Tau Kok Division, as well as Kowloon West Traffic have also earned the praise of other members of the public, Mainland visitors, and a US resident with their good work.
In the first case, a woman phoned the Airport Reporting Centre from California in April requesting for assistance in locating her 24-year-old son who was mentally handicapped and had to take medicine at regular times. After officers located her son at the airport the following day, the US resident sent an e-mail to the Duty Officer of the Reporting Centre to thank "all of the people who were involved in finding my son at the Hong Kong Airport", and expressed appreciation of the officers' "caring and understanding".
In the second case, two local residents have sent separate letters to praise the performance of officers from Sha Tin Division.
In one of the letters, a woman motorist expressed appreciation to Woman Police Constable Ng Mo-yee and Team 2 for helping her when she lost her way on the road. "It is not just their helpfulness that prompts me to write. It is their concern about general citizens and their courtesy. I have never felt so safe and being taken good care of by the Hong Kong Police Force before this incident!" the letter added.
In the other letter, a woman paid tribute to the officers who located her six-year-old son after she had lost touch with the boy on a cycling track in Sha Tin.
Praising the officers' prompt response to her "999" call, she said: "One more family in Hong Kong feels very proud of the officers and of the police force as a whole."
In the third case, a 75-year-old woman, in a letter to Cheung Sha Wan Divisional Commander, praised the Division's prompt response to her "999" call after Kowloon Regional Command and Control Centre had sent two constables to her home in Mei Foo Sun Chuen, and arranged an ambulance to take her to hospital, where she had stayed for eight days.
After leaving hospital, the woman credited the Force's prompt response with saving her life, and enclosed in her letter a cheque for $5,000 to the Police Welfare Fund as a gesture of her appreciation.
In the fourth case, residents from Zhejiang Province have written to Sha Tau Kok Division to thank Sergeant Li Ching-wah for helping them obtain a refund of RMB 1,500 from a shopkeeper in Chung Ying Street.
In the last case, a member of the public praised Kowloon West Traffic for taking swift actions to rectify a dangerous situation arising from road works in Hung Hom.
The man said in his letter that after he had alerted KW Traffic of the situation, three traffic police officers arrived at the scene of the road works and oversaw removal of the wooden planks causing obstruction to the public.
"This small thing may not fall within the jurisdiction of the police, but the sense of responsibility and enthusiastic manners displayed by the officers concerned show that the Hong Kong Police Force is a team with very high efficiency," he added.
Mr Cheung Ying-chun (fourth from right) presents a banner to Cheung Chau Division officers