Frontline officers attend workshop on balance, self-care
In suicide or dead body found cases, officers have to examine the corpse, search for evidence, make enquiries with the bereaved families, and, very often, stay at the scene for a long time. The psychological impact on the officers is quite obvious.
Even after work, some officers can hardly forget what they have seen. In more serious cases, officers may require counselling by professional psychologists to help them cope with post-trauma stress.
To enhance the psychological competency of officers handling such unpleasant incidents, Kwai Tsing District arranged a tailor-made workshop for over 50 frontline supervisory officers with uniform branch or crime duties from New Territories South Region on April 26. At the workshop, Police Psychological Services Group staff members Eddie Li and Edmund Lau shared with the audience their experiences of helping officers cope with stress arising from handling dead body cases.
During the workshop, real cases were discussed, frontline supervisory officers' roles were highlighted and participants spoke of their personal experiences in an open manner. Mr Li reminded the audience that it is very important for them to maintain a psychological balance for dealing with stress.
The workshop concluded with New Territories South Regional Commander Tang How-kong thanking the speakers for sharing their knowledge and experiences with the audience, and calling on officers to handle each case with a caring heart.
New Territories South Regional Commander Tang How-kong thanks Senior Police Clinical Psychologist Eddie Li for enhancing NTS officers' psychological competency