And he has been conferred with the first "First Honours" since the university introduced this course for serving police officers in conjunction with the Police College. At the age of 42, he has also been accepted by the University of Hong Kong to study for a Master Degree.

Known as "Dave" to his colleagues, SPC Leung works in the Support Unit of Tuen Mun Division, mainly looking after arrest warrants issued by the courts in Tuen Mun. Previously, he worked at different posts. During his two-year stint in the Special Duties Squad of Mong Kok District, he dealt with prostitution, gambling and drug peddling. He also came across many dangerous and exciting moments whilst working in Emergency Unit Kowloon West in the 1990s.

Dave has served the Force for 23 years. Only having Form 5 qualification on joining the Force, he decided to start from scratch when he took the Open University course at the age of 38. Now he will take up a bigger challenge - studying a Social Science (Criminology) Master Course at the University of Hong Kong. His ultimate goal is clinching a doctorate before the age of 50.

Dave recalled how his wife thought about his part-time studies: "When I enrolled in the Open University course, my wife, bearing in mind I had not touched any academic course for over 20 years, was not too hopeful."

As a lad, Dave dreamed of completing a university course. He could hardly fulfil that dream mainly because of failure to find a course that was compatible with his shift work in terms of attendance, until he learned that the Open University had tailor-made a course for serving officers.

"Some officers have taken the course. In face of the changes taking place in the Force and society, merely working hard is not enough, and we have to be more professional about what we're doing. Studying is therefore the best option.

"Even beat patrol PCs have to be more knowledgeable about what they're doing before they can really help the public. For example, the empathy that the Force has preached would help us better understand a citizen's feelings and needs," he noted.

Dave admitted that he, with a limited secondary education background, had a hard time completing his part-time studies. "Sometimes I got up in the middle of the night to prepare for the following lesson because most of my classmates were superintendents or inspectors from the Force and other disciplined forces, having good academic foundations and a better understanding of the course," he said.

Dave's four-year effort finally paid off when the Open University awarded him the first "First Honours" degree of the course. And he is probably the first student to complete this course within four years, starting from anything but a zero.

Senior Police Constable Leung Yu-fai is studying a Master Degree Course at the University of Hong Kong