Kevin Sinclair's Hong Kong

A veteran SCMP reporter, Kevin examines the good, bad and ugly sides of life in the city.

It's difficult to pin a neat label on Operation Breakthrough. It's a charity, sort of. It's a sporting body with community aspirations. It's a social movement with a warm heart and rock-solid aims. It has a minuscule budget but major ambitions. Founded in Tuen Mun in 1996 by a handful of senior police officers, Operation Breakthrough is an unusual law-enforcement initiative.

Chief Superintendent Ian Seabourne, now retired, was district commander in the area where a swathe of public housing is home to underprivileged children.

Nobody better understands the causes of anti-social juvenile behaviour than a policeman at the sharp end, dealing with street crime. Teenagers being arrested for fighting, minor robberies and shoplifting were not dangerous criminals. They were basically boys with nothing to do. They came from broken families. Their parents were often ill-educated, in dead-end jobs, and with little interest in their children. The young offenders were school dropouts with patchy job prospects, consigned to a routine of unemployed boredom, easy prey to triad recruiters.

To break this cycle, Mr Seabourne and his team offered an alternative. At first, it was the daunting prospect of donning boxing gloves and trading blows with a heavily built policeman; learning to box instils discipline, self-control and confidence. The aimless young men of Tuen Mun, Tin Shui Wai and Yuen Long took to the challenge with alacrity.

Since then, Operation Breakthrough has expanded dramatically. There are now courses in dance, rugby, sailing, martial arts, football and adventure training. The organisation has its own powerful dragon-boat racing team.