LOCAL police inspectors have asked to attend a forthcoming Police Force Council meeting, a consultative forum from which all four police associations withdrew more than two years ago because of a pay dispute.
The surprise move by the Local Inspectors' Association (LIA) is seen as likely to upset the unity of police staff associations.
Uncertainties about pension safeguards and the newly announced sandwich class housing scheme were urgent matters that needed to be discussed with management, LIA chairman Mr Robert Chau Chuen-kung, said.
They were concerned that the housing scheme might not be fair to the civil servants, he added.
Mr Chau said their decision was not a concession. It had been taken ''for the good of staff consultation in general, and the good of the association in particular''.
He pointed out that a lot of time was being wasted because their concerns had to be relayed through various indirect channels before being heard by senior management.
Mr Chau said that although the four groups - the LIA, the Expatriate Inspectors' Association, the Superintendent Association and the Junior Police Officers' Association - jointly decided to boycott PFC back in 1990, the decision had no binding authority.
