Editorial | Toy guns at Hong Kong police open day miss target
- Organising an event focusing on national security education has its challenges, but providing children with uniforms and teaching them marching drills may be better than stressing armed operations
National Security Education Day is an opportunity for the disciplined services, particularly the police, to showcase their day-to-day role in safeguarding people of all ages. The education focus inevitably leads to interaction with children.
It is an important element of police relations with the community that can shape perceptions of future citizens.
So a police open event for children marking the day last week would seem uncontroversial. It was also a chance for the force to enhance its image after the anti-government unrest that divided the city in 2019.
Unfortunately it did end in controversy, over a news photograph showing a schoolgirl pointing a toy gun at a classmate in a mock-up of a train carriage at the police college tactical training complex.
03:22
Police tear-smoke warning souvenirs offered at Hong Kong National Security Education Day
In some quarters, this was a reminder of a contentious event during the unrest, when police stormed an MTR train at Prince Edward station to chase protesters. There were also questions about the wisdom of putting such guns in the hands of young children in this day and age.