About 100 police officers have volunteered to be mentors of 150 secondary students under an initiative to help young people develop positive values. The Intensive Community Mentoring Scheme is funded by the Quality Education Fund and co-organised by the police and the Network for Health and Welfare Studies of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Students from three secondary schools are taking part in the project. The head of police public relations, Chief Superintendent Alfred Ma Wai-luk, said the programme aimed to cultivate positive values among Hong Kong teenagers. 'We believe an effective means to prevent crime is to impart correct values to our teenagers,' he said. Mr Ma also said he was pleased the force was actively participating in the programme and hoped the officers could give emotional and academic support to the teenagers. Yuen Tsang Woon-ki, head of the Department of Applied Social Sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said the programme also tried to establish harmonious relationships between adults and teenagers. 'We hope that students' horizons will be broadened after the programme and they will feel supported by adults,' she said. Apart from 100 police volunteers, mentors include members of various social and educational organisations. Each volunteer will mentor a student from December to June next year. Before becoming mentors, volunteers are expected to take part in a two-month intensive training session to strengthen their communication skills and enhance their understanding of youth. A volunteer, police detective Ricky Chan Yin-kit, said he believed the programme would be fun and meaningful. 'I want to see if we can really make a difference to our teenagers in half a year,' he said. Although it was his first time as a mentor, Mr Chan was confident in his ability to communicate with teenagers. 'As a police detective I have been in touch with people all the time,' he said. However, another volunteer, Mono Chan Pak-kit, a lecturer at Polytechnic University, said: 'I have been a mentor several times but the subjects were always difficult to contact.'
