New Senior Command Course makes debut
Director of Personnel and Training Ma Wai-luk opened a new two-week Senior Command Course (SCC) on November 7 last year. Attending the course were 14 superintendents from the Force as well as a total of five officers from Metropolitan Police, South Australian Police, Australian Federal Police, Police Academy of the Netherlands and Singapore Police.
The course began with a four-week pre-classroom online phase with subjects uploaded to an Enterprise Wiki on Police College's Intranet for interaction among the participants before and after the SCC. During the two-week classroom phase, the SCC adopted a modular curriculum concept that included Self and Leadership, Context of Policing, and Organisational Effectiveness.
A number of presentations and visits were designed to cater for the training needs of superintendents of the Force, and to equip them for taking on existing and future policing challenges. The SCC concluded with eight weeks of individual assignments, during which the participants prepared for submission of Improvement Papers, which will be uploaded to the Wiki for peer evaluation.
Police College also collaborated with Washington University in St. Louis in delivering a two-day course on Critical Thinking and Problem-solving. These skills are essential for leaders to make decisions using a reliable and effective methodology that overcomes the inherent memory and emotional biases involved in decision-making.
At the invitation of Police College, the Director and Founder of Cropley Communication of Melcrum Publishing Pty Ltd., Mr Adrian Cropley, delivered a one-day workshop on internal communication. Melcrum is a worldwide company specialising in internal communication publications, reports, research and conferences all over the world.
The quality of any decision-making process depends largely on the quality, thoroughness and fairness of interacting with stakeholders. The SCC provided input from the community. Academics and experts were invited to speak on various issues including community relations, customer service and social media.
Finally, an HR expert talked about multi-generation workforce issues, while some senior officers of the Force shared their knowledge with the course participants.
At the invitation of Police College, the overseas participants shared their experiences of engaging the community in policing at home, at a Management Development Programme held at Police Headquarters.
After completion of the SCC, the overseas participants spent two days visiting the Zhongshan Public Security Bureau to get a better idea of policing on the Mainland. They also toured a Command and Control Centre, and found it very impressive.
Detective Superintendent Jason Ashwood from Metropolitan Police Service said he enjoyed the cultural exchange and the lessons learned from the SCC, adding that the course on Critical Thinking was one of the aspects that impressed him most.
Describing the SCC as "superb", Superintendent Kym Thomas from South Australia Police enjoyed the course on Critical Thinking and workshop on internal communication most because he had gained a lot of inspiration from both sessions.
Superintendent
Ashwood
speaks on community policing during the Management Development
Programme