RAILDIST strives for excellence
In September last year, two former officers of Railway District (RAILDIST), Superintendent Cheng Tak-ming and Chief Inspector Tse Yuk-lun, and RAILDIST Woman Senior Inspector (WSIP) Mak Ka-po captured the Best Quality Silver Award of the Regional Category with a research project known as "Protecting the sprawling Railway Network Against a Rising Tide of Global Terrorism - An Empirical Approach to Conducting Terrorist Risk Assessment". The award brought joy not only to the three authors, but also to the District, which has been striving for excellence in policing the unique railway environment in Hong Kong.
RAILDIST Express
To keep itself updated on the global trend of terrorism, RAILDIST boosts the research capability of its staff by producing a regular publication, RAILDIST Express, which is now available on RAILDIST website on POINT, identifying international best practices within the railway policing environment and keeping the District abreast of the new developments in this field. It also updates RAILDIST officers on the current railway issues.
Furthermore, RAILDIST has requested, through the Force Publications Committee, for relevant publications to enhance officers' understanding of terrorism. Two recent publications approved are "Terrorism Awareness" and "Security Operations" by Robert Deatherage Jr. The former provides a detailed introduction of the history, ideologies, tactics and objectives of terrorism whereas the latter goes deeper into threat assessment and risk management.
Overseas Course
To obtain more good practices in disaster management for her District, WSIP Mak attended a two-week course on International Disaster Management in Bournemouth University in the UK in October last year, along with 12 officers from Israel, British Virginia Islands, Scotland, Australia, Sweden, Algeria, Nigeria and Turkey. Some of them came from the military and others from non-governmental agencies.
During the course, the major concept of disaster management was introduced and reinforced during discussion on various case studies. WSIP Mak considers the course very useful in deepening understanding of disaster management, such as use of worst-case scenario in practising existing disaster management plans and the bearing on crowd behaviour in planning and implementing evacuation.
Visit to British Transport Police
After the course, WSIP Mak went to London to pay a short visit to the British Transport Police (BTP) Control Room and meet Chief Inspector Paul Garrett. The BTP is a self-sustained Police Force in the UK with around 3,500 police officers to police the railway network of Britain.
Chief Inspector Garrett updated WSIP Mak on the challenges his Force faced and he was impressed with the low crime rate of Hong Kong's railway system - only one per cent of the total crimes in the territory. WSIP Mak later shared her views and knowledge of her UK trip with more than 300 RAILDIST officers on training days.
Those interested in knowing more about railway policing may look up the new Force Procedures Manual chapter 74 or simply join the District.
Woman Senior Inspector Mak Ka-po visits the British Transport Police's Control Room in London