With a man locked inside a flat and threatening to harm himself with a knife, police negotiator Peter Morgan thought he was in for a long night.
So when the man surrendered the moment Mr Morgan offered to chat with him he was lost for words.
'When I got there I knocked on the door and I said: 'My name is Peter. I'm from the police and I'm going to help you. Put the knife down, come out and let's talk about it.
'He agreed straight away. Normally you would expect hours of negotiation. But he said okay and he came out. So it was a bit of a surprise to me. Normally I am not lost for words, but I was in this case,' the senior superintendent says.
The episode five years ago shed light on the art of negotiation, according to Mr Morgan - listen and don't just talk.
'Everybody thinks good negotiators are good talkers. But that's a bit of a misconception. Actually good negotiators tend to be good listeners,' said Mr Morgan, commanding officer of the Police Negotiation Cadre
Mr Morgan recently shared his experience with potential negotiators when the 56-member team started an internal recruitment exercise, which takes place every two years, to find about 20 officers to volunteer for the cadre. Mr Morgan also shared his experience of the cadre - which was set up in 1975 and is one of the oldest negotiation units in the world - with Shanghai and Guangdong public security officers who are planning to train their own professional negotiators.