LCQ10: First aid trainings for police officers
18.12.2019

Following is a question by the Dr Hon Pierre Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, in the Legislative Council today (December 18): Question: The Secretary for Security has indicated recently that most police officers have received first aid and basic healthcare training. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council: (1) among the serving police officers belonging to the ranks listed in the table below, of the respective numbers and percentages of those who have completed first aid certificate courses recognised by the Government, and set out in the table below a breakdown of the number of persons by training organisation (i.e. (i) Hong Kong St. John Ambulance, (ii) Hong Kong Red Cross, (iii) Occupational Safety & Health Council, (iv) The Auxiliary Medical Service and (v) other organisations (please specify)); Rank Officers completing course A breakdown of the number of persons by training organisation Number Percentage (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) Probationary Inspector of Police/Inspector of Police or above Sergeant/Station Sergeant Senior Police Constable Police Constable Total (2) of the number of police officers who completed, in each of the past five years, the first aid certificate courses provided respectively by the aforesaid organisations, and the total number of hours of the relevant training received by them; and (3) whether the Police will, when some persons at the scene of confrontations between the Police and members of the public have been injured and need treatment, administer first aid treatment for the injured persons on their own, or refer them to the healthcare professionals (including ambulance personnel, nurses and doctors) at the scene for treatment in the first instance; of the criteria adopted by the Police for making such a decision? Reply: President, The Police always attach importance to the professional training and development of police officers, including the provision of appropriate first aid and basic medical training so that police officers may, under different operational circumstances, administer preliminary treatment for injured persons in need. At present, all newly recruited regular police officers have to undergo 40 hours of basic first aid training when they are trained at the Hong Kong Police College. Upon completing such first aid training and passing relevant assessments, they will be awarded first aid certificates. In addition, the Police also arrange the basic first aid training mentioned above or 16 hours of refresher first aid training for serving regular police officers who need to extend the validity period of their first aid certificates. The relevant training programmes are provided by the Auxiliary Medical Service and Hong Kong St. John Ambulance. Police officers may also enrol in other first aid certificate courses on their own initiative. My reply to Hon Chan's question is as follows: (1) and (2) As at November 30 this year, about 25 000 serving regular police officers had completed the aforementioned basic or refresher first aid training, or other first aid certificate courses. The details are set out below: Rank Number of officers having completed training/course Percentage of total number of officers at the rank Inspector of Police/ Senior Inspector of Police or above About 2 000 About 75 per cent Sergeant/Station Sergeant About 6 000 About 90 per cent Police Constable/ Senior Police Constable About 17 000 About 90 per cent Total About 25 000 About 90 per cent of all regular police officers The Police do not maintain the breakdown of the number of officers by training organisation. From 2014/15 to 2018/19, the average numbers of regular police officers who received basic and refresher first aid training arranged by the Police per year are as follows: First aid training Average number of officers who received training per year from 2014/15 to 2018/19 Basic first aid training About 1 100 Refresher first aid training About 2 800 (3) There are safety risks in large-scale public order events. The Police always uphold the principle that injured persons should be sent to hospitals for treatment as soon as possible. Depending on the actual circumstances, police officers will administer preliminary treatment for injured persons before ambulance personnel arrive and, where necessary, will not rule out arranging other healthcare professionals at the scene to help the injured persons. If an injured person is an arrestee, the Police will, while administering treatment for the person, take into account his or her safety as well as security considerations. In any event, the Police will facilitate ambulance service in their best endeavours and assist in relief efforts as far as practicable, so that injured persons can receive the needed medical services.