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The school provides training for junior police officers, to refresh and update their professional knowledge, for traffic personnel and for newly promoted sergeants and station sergeants to prepare them for the responsibilities of higher rank.
The Regional Continuation Training Scheme operates from centres in each of the four police regions. It provides supplementary training for some 2 470 constables each year, during their first two years of service. In addition, a scheme of continuation training for inspectors with less than one year's operational service has proved to be most effective as has a series of courses on community relations specially designed for newly appointed Neighbourhood Police Co-ordinators.
The Detective Training Wing of the Police Training School holds 12-week standard training courses with an average of 25 inspectors, 20 sergeants and station sergeants and 90 constables attending each of the four courses per year. A continuation training course was also conducted for junior and inspectorate CID officers who have served in the rank for at least four years. The academic year provides for 10 two-week courses for detective police constables, one course each for detective sergeants and detective station sergeants and two courses for detective inspectors.
To cope with expansion and to provide additional expertise in certain branches of the force, the universities, polytechnics and management associations are commissioned to arrange special job-related courses for police personnel. In 1985, these courses included radar and navigation training, fire-fighting and first aid for Marine Police officers, and accounting and financial investigation techniques for those in the Commercial Crime Bureau. The scholarship scheme for inspectorate officers continued to attract officers seeking to further their education at university. Since the scheme was introduced in 1970, 32 officers have obtained degrees and at present six are in either the first or second year of their full-time studies.
In addition, 34 officers of various ranks received overseas training by attending professional and technical training courses in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Malaysia and New Zealand.
Police Dogs
Police dogs are trained at the Police Dog Unit at Yuen Long in the New Territories and are used in a variety of roles, such as patrolling, tracking, and detecting dangerous drugs. A highlight of the year was the presentation of Britain's top bravery award for a working dog, to police dog Lorna. The award, by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was for exceptional courage in capturing a burglar on Tsing Yi Island in the early hours of July 27, 1984. Despite a near-fatal axe wound, sustained at the time, the dog dutifully pursued her quarry and apprehended him.
Welfare
The Police Welfare Branch provides a comprehensive range of welfare, sport, recreation and catering services for all members of the force and their families. During the year, 3 853 children of regular and auxiliary police officers were granted bursaries from the Police Children's Edu- cation Trust and the Police Education and Welfare Trust to assist them in receiving education. A particular highlight was the drawing to completion of two new clubhouses providing modern facilities for sport and recreation. The Police Sports and Recreation Club in Boundary Street, Kowloon, will provide a wide range of facilities for officers of all ranks and the Police Officers' Club in Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island will provide recreational facilities for officers of inspectorate rank and above.