As investigation of violent crimes is one of the Commissioner's operational priorities for 2008, the Regional Crime Unit at the New Territories North (NTN) Regional Headquarters held a keynote forum on domestic violence for frontline officers on April 28 this year.

Twenty-one Inspectorate Officers and 80 Non-commissioned Officers from the Uniform Branch and crime stream turned up at the sharing session to hear presentations on the issue of domestic violence.

The forum, which was organised with the assistance of the Child Protection Policy Unit, sought to enhance officers' capability of handling domestic violence by updating them on new guidelines and related new developments, including "victim management" and the psychology of victims and perpetrators.

NTN Deputy Regional Commander Peter Hunt opened the forum, which was followed by talks given by Ms Lau Hon-ngor from the Social Welfare Department's Family and Child Protection Services Unit in Yuen Long, a Police Clinical Psychologist and a Force Training Officer. The highlight of the session was an open forum conducted by Chief Superintendent Ng Kam-wing from Crime Wing.

The session was the first of its kind, offering officers a glimpse into the issue of domestic violence from different perspectives, which are different from the conventional police perception.

Mr Ng pointed out that this multi-agency approach to the issue of domestic violence had achieved good results. "Officers' years of hard work has paid off as indicated by statistics which show domestic violence cases are beginning to decline. It is encouraging that Legislative Council members have given a positive evaluation of the efforts we have made over the years," he noted.

The forum has offered a glimpse into the issue of domestic violence