Distinguished Alumni from Disciplinary Force Share Their Invaluable Experience and Successful stories

Working in the Disciplinary Force of the HKSAR Government has long been considered a highly sought-after career as it offers good pay and benefits. On 22 February 2012, three distinguished alumni including Mr. Terence Lam Kwok-leung (Mathematical Science), Assistant Commissioner (Operations), Correctional Services Department, HKSAR Government; Mr. Ricky Poon Suet-man (English), Former Senior Superintendent, Hong Kong Police Force, and Mr. Roger Tai Hung-kin (Business Administration), Chief Inspector, Hong Kong Police Force, HKSAR Government, plus Yvonne Leung Yuk-ting (Communication), Woman Detective Inspector, Hong Kong Police Force, HKSAR Government, as the moderator of the Forum; came back to HKBU Campus to share with students why they joined the Police Force and some of the unforgettable moments in their career life.

Alumnus Terence Lam advised students not to consider taking up a job just based on the salary offer. One should understand their own strengths and weaknesses before choosing a career. For example, those who find themselves self-disciplined and dedicated to help others would be more suitable for serving in disciplinary force.

He then shared that in the 1970’s when there was an influx of Vietnam refugees, he led his team to manage them and overcome a lot of challenges. Terence also said that due to the public’s high expectation on the performance of civil servants, he did feel some stress during work. Yet, he never gives up and insists on getting the job done.  

Retired from the Police Force, Alumnus Ricky Poon used one simple sentence to conclude his career life – “No blame and no regrets”. Born to a farming family, Ricky said that he had a tough life in childhood. When he was studying at the then Hong Kong Baptist College, he had to take up three part-time jobs. He worked extremely hard until one day, the doctor advised him to stop for the benefit of health. But the difficult times had trained Ricky to be a tough person.

With above 3,000 staff, the Hong Kong Police Forces is currently the largest Department of the civil service structure. Ricky enjoyed every moment of his job because in the team, every member can take up different positions according to their forte.

Although Alumnus Roger Tai’s childhood dream job was to become a policeman, he did not start his first career at the HK Police Force until much later.

In the Garley Building fire in 1996, Roger was assigned to the Disaster Victims Identification Unit whereby he was responsible for verifying the identities of a large number of dead bodies. He used this example to demonstrate the work of the Police and asked students to think whether they were prepared to serve people under this adverse scenario.