Iron men under pressure
Police seek ways
to ease tension
By Becky Chu
T
ough, strong and brave seem to be the public impression of the police. However, five suicides of policemen last year aroused public concern and provided an insight into the difficulties the police encounter.The pressures on police officers are mult-dimensional.
According to Mr. Cheung Shu Tsang, chairman of the Junior Police Officer Association of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, one of the pressures is public scrutiny and criticism. His view is shared by other police officers.
Mr. David Cheung, who joined the force 25 years ago, said, “As we belong to a disciplined force, our behaviour is closely supervised by the general public.
“For example, heavy drinking and gang fighting are common phenomena in the Territory. But it is unacceptable for the police to do that. People tend to put more blame on us than the others.”
There is another kind of pressure from the public. Mr. Arthur Cheung, who has been an auxiliary police constable in traffic for 6 years, finds pressure builds up as time goes by.
Said he: “It’s very difficult to seek a balance between taking up a policeman’s responsibilities and maintaining good relationship with citizens.”
From his experience as an auxiliary policeman, he finds that some traffic offenders are so unreasonable as to threaten to take revenge after being charged.
“No one wants to be hatred and complained about,” he said, “but sometimes it is just unavoidable.”
The JPOA’s Mr. Cheung added, “Police officers entitled unique power to assist their work. However, this is inevitably followed by a lot of temptations and abuse of power.”
Mr. David Cheung agreed. “It is not surprising that some officers may be lured to commit offences,” he said.
He stated that one of his former colleagues became a drug dealer during an investigation of drug trafficking, and another one was accused of corruption by misusing his power.
Working tension also comes from colleagues. Mr. Steven Chan, a 4-year auxiliary police constable, pointed out that there is sometimes keen competition among colleagues.
He said, “They incline to form different groups and compete with one another in working performance.”
Mr. David Cheung added, “We are anxious that our performance is incomparable to others and that fellow officers may look down upon us. Here comes the pressure.”
Whether financial difficulty is a source of pressure also invites controversy. Mr. Lau, Mr. Steven Chan and Mr. David Cheung all agreed that many police officers owe debts for various reasons.
Mr. David Cheung claimed that some debts are closely related to gambling.
He confessed that he once gambled heavily when he was young. He was in debt every month then.
In fact, he said one of his former colleagues committed suicide because of the unrecoverable mounting debt stemming from gambling.
Mr. Cheung of the JPOA, however, does not think gambling is popular among the officers.
Said he: “Gambling is a part of some citizens’ lives. Being citizens themselves, what police officers do is just a reflection of the social reality instead of the creation of a new social phenomenon.”
Miss Irene Tsang, who has been an auxiliary police constable for 6 years, admitted that playing cards, playing mahjong and betting on horses are popular among her colleagues. She estimated that four-fifths of the officers are fond of gambling.
According to Mr. Chan, the prevalence of gambling is mainly due to pressure from counterparts.
He explained, “As they tend to form groups, it is difficult for them to reject their peers if they are invited to gamble.”
This is especially true for young officers, who are afraid of being isolated in the beginning of their career.
Currently, there are two psychologists providing counselling in the force. Some say that the number is not enough.
Mr. Cheung of JPOA said they are planning to employ more psychologists to provide sufficient counselling services to the officers. He also said the identity and information of the patients will be kept confidential.
Regarding the police suicides, all the interviewees said the cases are exceptional ones. But they thought that the public image of police would be distorted.
Mr. Cheung of the JPOA said, “The public are evaluating the police too ideally. The general public should have correct perception towards the police.”
