To promote knowledge sharing and understanding among young police officers from all over the world, International Police Association (IPA) held the 2nd IPA World Seminar for Young Police Officers in Australia from April 21 to 27. The Vice-president of IPA Hong Kong Section, Superintendent (SP) John Tse, and Coordination Officer, Sergeant (SGT) Welton Lee, attended the seminar as representatives of the IPA Hong Kong Section. SGT Lee is the first junior police officer nominated for this overseas seminar.

 

More than 60 police officers from 30 countries and regions participated in the seminar and discussed various topics, including different types of Cyber Crime, Child Exploitation, Identity Fraud, Emergency Response and Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Victim Identification, Illicit Drug Manufacturing/Trafficking in Australia and investigation methods, Organised Crime and Road Policing.  

 

The organisers also arranged a series of activities for the participants, including visits to exercises of maritime rescue and crime scene evidence collection. The Hong Kong Section representatives also took part in simulation firearm training alongside other representatives. In the training, the trainees were required to fire training firearms in a stressful situation, gaining a better understanding of other countries' tactics and powers of law enforcement.

 

The duration of the seminar coincided with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps Day, which is a National Day commemorating the Australians and New Zealanders who made the ultimate sacrifice in wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping missions. At the invitation of the local government, SP Tse and SGT Lee attended a big parade, receiving a warm welcome by the community. The invitation showed the local government and community recognised the importance of police work.

 

For SP Tse and SGT Lee, the community policing in Australia is quite successful. They point out that the local police encourage retirees to take part in non-core police jobs, thus bringing relief to increasingly heavy police workload and enabling the retirees to put their skills to good use.

 

In the seminar, the participants exchanged views and expertise and came to know more about each other's police culture and work procedures. More importantly, the seminar offered an opportunity for different IPA sections to expand networking.

 

The Poland Section will host the next world seminar.