A former nurse, a civil engineer and a new law graduate were named by the Independent Commission Against Corruption as its best new recruits this year as the anti-graft authority seeks a further 30 officers for its operations wing.
The latest recruitment drive came after commissioner Raymond Wong Hong-chiu admitted in July that the corruption watchdog was 60 officers short. Since then, 35 recruits have successfully gone through the department's 14-week training course and been deployed to frontline operation branches.
The best officers named among the 35 were former nurse Pearl Jie Ji-xi, civil engineer Daniel Leung Chun-yu and law graduate Florrie Chan Wan-ting.
Ms Jie, 29, had been a nurse and then a Correctional Services officer since graduating in 1999. She joined the ICAC as an investigator - a job that pays $24,795 a month - and recently completed her training.
She won the Best All-Around Award in the investigator category for her performance during the 14-week training course. She is now attached to D Group, which specialises in handling corruption complaints against police.
Ms Jie said that despite now being a law enforcer, she would still put people's lives first during operations.
'A suspect is innocent until proven guilty, so if a suspect is in a life-threatening situation, I'd have to make his safety a priority,' she said.