This Course Guide has been taken from the most recent presentation of the course. It would be useful for reference purposes but please note that there may be updates for the following presentation.
LESM A202
Police and Society
Welcome to LESM A202 Police and Society.
This course is a compulsory full-year, 10-credit, middle-level course for Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU) students seeking a Diploma, Higher Diploma, a Bachelor of Social Sciences or a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Hons) in Police and Security Management. This course will also be of interest to students majoring in sociology and political science within the Social Sciences programme to broaden their knowledge of the interrelationships between the police as an institution and the various facets of society — especially in the context of Hong Kong.
This 10-unit course provides students with a systematic and critical review of the relationship between the police and society in general. Through this course, you will be enabled to understand the major issues including police power, culture and its relationship to other social forces.
The study units, readings, activities and self-tests will help you master the topics over a period of around 40 weeks.
Purpose of this Course Guide
If you have taken other courses through HKMU, you should now be well aware of both the study skills required for distance learning and how HKMU courses are organized. It is still recommended, though, that you read this Course Guide thoroughly before looking at the study units or the readings. If this is your first HKMU course, then please read this Course Guide very carefully.
The Course Guide tells you briefly what the course is about and how you can work your way through the material. It suggests the amount of time you need to spend in order to complete the course, and it will give you a general idea when your assignments are due. For detailed information on assignments, please refer to the Assignment File.
In distance learning as practised by HKMU, the study units are coordinated and prepared in the distance mode of education by your university teacher. You do not need to attend lectures face-to-face with the lecturer. This is one of the great advantages of distance learning: you can read and work through specially designed study material at your own pace at times and places that suit you best. Think of it as reading the lecture instead of hearing it from a lecturer. In the same way that a lecturer might set you some readings to do, the study unit will tell you when to read your textbook or other materials. In the same way that a lecturer might give you an in-class exercise, your study unit will have exercises (called by various names) for you to do at appropriate points. You are also likely to find review questions at the end of each unit. Do them all, as these exercises and questions give you the practice necessary to achieve the learning outcomes of the course and to pass the examination. Even when you 'make notes' in a direct face-to-face lecture, you are advised to study those notes, and to read and to think about them in relation to your textbook. In the distance mode of education the course materials replace the live lecture notes.
Course aims
LESM A202 Police and Society aims to provide you with a sound foundation of knowledge of the roles and functions of police in society, the issue of police power and accountability, and the impact that police culture has upon the behaviour of its members. The course will enable you to consider the extent to which the Hong Kong force can deliver the outcomes demanded of it by society and its representatives.
Course learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course (LESM A202), you should be able to:
The following table provides an overview of the course and suggests the amount of time to allow for completing each unit. However, we all have our own approach to study and our own pace of learning, so this schedule is only a guide. You can adjust it to meet your personal needs more closely. But plan your study schedule carefully. The estimated time on average, that you need to spend on this course is eight hours per week. This estimated time includes time for reading the study units, studying the supplementary readings, completing the activities and self-tests, writing your assignments, reviewing the study materials, attending tutorials and preparing for the final examination.
| Unit | Title | Weeks | Assessment activity (end of unit) |
| 1 | An introduction to police and policing: the roles and functions of police in society | 3 | |
| 2 | The origins of western policing and the history of the Hong Kong Police | 5 | Assignment 1 |
| 3 | Policing and its significance in the process of criminal justice | 3 | |
| 4 | Police power, misconduct and accountability | 3 | |
| 5 | Police culture | 6 | Assignment 2 |
| 6 | International police cooperation: Interpol and cross-border cooperation in Hong Kong | 2 | Assignment 3 |
| 7 | Police and the government in Hong Kong | 3 | |
| 8 | The police and the media | 4 | Assignment 4 |
| 9 | Community policing and its application in Hong Kong | 4 | |
| 10 | Lessons about the HKP and its relationship to society | 1 | Assignment 5 |
| Revision | 2 | ||
| TOTAL | 36 |
The study units summarize key issues, explain the relevant concepts and examples, and comment on related readings. Each unit contains activities and self-tests to reinforce your learning of the issues under discussion. Moreover, the assignments will provide you with further feedback and will help you achieve the learning outcomes of the course.
The course consists of ten units. Each unit contains a variety of techniques to help you study, and you should be aware that the following points will help you get the most out of the information presented:
In addition to this Course Guide, please ensure that you have received ten study units and the supplementary readings from HKMU.
Printed materials
Supplementary readings
There will be a number of supplementary readings associated with each unit, but these readings are very important as they provide alternative insights into the complex organizational and societal issues addressed in this course.
Non-print media
There may be a number of relevant videos available to support some of the units. If suitable videos do become available, they will be used either during tutorials or placed in the HKMU library for your use.
There are also a number of Internet websites that will be cited in the course. These relate to specific individual police institutions and to particular topics such as community policing.
Equipment encouraged for students and tutors
All students and tutors are encouraged to have access to a PC with an Internet connection. You may also use the HKMU lab PCs, many of which have access to the Internet.
The following PC specifications are stated here only as minimum requirements, recognizing that you may be able to access much more powerful equipment:
The course assessment is designed to help you progress easily from the required readings in the study units through to the assignments and examination. You will be required to apply the information and techniques learned during the course when doing the assignments. The assignments must be submitted to your tutor for formal assessment in accordance with the deadlines stated in the Assignment File. The non-assessed self-test questions are not part of your formal assessment, but these should be done before progressing to the assignments.
Assignment File
Assignment details for this course are contained in your Assignment File, which is available on the OLE. The nature of these assignments is described in the 'Assignments' section below. You are required to complete your assignments and submit them via the OLE in accordance with the cut-off dates provided in the Assignment File.
Presentation Schedule
The Presentation Schedule is available on the Online Learning Environment (OLE). In this schedule, you will see the proposed time-table for studying the course materials.
Assignments
There are assignments altogether. You are advised to study the unit(s), including the activities and self-tests (and their answers) before attempting to solve the problems or answer the questions in the assignments. More specific instructions will be found in the Assignment File.
You are required to finish all five assignments for tutors to grade. Only the best four grades obtained on your assignments count for the continuous assessment portion of the course. Fifty per cent (50%) of your final grade will depend on your assignments.
How to do your assignments
For each assignment, please read through the question, and the instructions accompanying the question in the Assignment File. Please read the question carefully and make sure you understand what is required before attempting it.
Once you have completed each assignment, you must submit it via the OLE on or before the deadline. However, if you cannot finish your assignment on time, you must contact your tutor before the deadline to discuss the possibility of an extension. Your tutor may grant you an extension of up to seven days. If more time is needed, you must obtain approval from the Course Coordinator or the Dean of the School of Arts and Social Sciences. No marks will be awarded for any late assignments without prior approval being obtained (unless the Course Coordinator or the Dean so approves).
You must be careful when you are using other references in the research for your assignments. Plagiarism is copying someone else's work or ideas without indicating the original source of the material. HKMU takes a very serious view of plagiarism and any student who commits plagiarism will be penalized. This applies just as much to using work of other students as it does to authors of books. However, you may include parenthetical references to the works you cite e.g. (Roberg, Crank & Kuykendall 1999, 88). So, you could include a section at the end of your assignment called 'References' where the full name, title, date and place of the publication appear. A way to cite a reference is:
Roberg, R R, Crank, J and Kuykendall, J (1999) Police and Society, Roxbury, USA: Roxbury Publishing.
This citation technique is a normal and necessary part of science or social science. It is good training to learn to acknowledge your sources of information as you do your assignments. This citation system is part of intellectual honesty and is most important in scientific literature. And, if you look at it another way, the fact that you say (write) something and someone else supports what you wrote (the work [person] you cited) adds power to what you have said.
Tutors and assignments
Your assignments will be marked and commented on by your tutor, who will keep an eye on your progress and assist you if you encounter problems during the course. Marked assignments will be returned to you as soon as possible.
It is a good practice to keep a copy of each assignment submitted for marking, so that you can always refer the queries to the tutor. Hence, please contact your tutor should the following arise:
Apart from self-study, tutorials will also be organized to assist you in your learning process. Details of the dates, time and location of the tutorials as well as the name and phone number of you tutor will be sent to you in due course.
It is strongly recommended that you attend all these tutorials which will provide considerable assistance in your study of this course. Moreover, you will have the chance to meet fellow students and with other distance learners who are studying at HKMU.
Final examination and grading
The final examination for this course will be of three hours duration and count for 50% of the total course grade. You should use the time between finishing the last unit and the examination to review the entire course. But, at the university level, it is wise to study in a planned, periodic way well before the final exam. Mature and hard-working students in the distance mode of education may need to be flexible in both study habits and times. You might find it useful to review your self-tests, assignments and your tutor's comments on them before sitting for the examination. You will be advised of examination arrangements after you send in your examination registration card.
The final examination covers information from all parts of the course and will be in a form you have already experienced in self-tests and assignments. Do not worry that the examination will contain tricky questions. That would not be consistent with the clear, open approach HKMU takes to helping its learners succeed in their studies.
The table below tells you once again how the marks are allocated to the continuous assessment items (assignments) and to your final examination. In order to pass this course, you must pass both the tutor-marked assignments component and the examination.
| Assessment type | Marks | |
| Five assignments — the best four counting The five required assignments will include case studies and essay writing | 12.5% each * 4 = 50% | |
| Examination The three-hour examination will comprise five essay-type questions. | 50% | |
| Total | 100% | |
| You must obtain a score of 40% in the continuous assessment component and a score of 40% on the final examination to pass the course; that is, you must pass both assessment components. The overall passing mark is 40% or greater. | ||
Tutors and tutorials
Hong Kong Metropolitan University prides itself on the support given to its distance learners. That means to you! While you may think you are studying on your own, it doesn't need to be that way. You can be in regular contact with your tutor and, once you've met them in the first tutorial, you can be in contact with your fellow students. Make a point, when you meet a fellow student(s) to exchange phone numbers and even email addresses. Then you are well on the way to developing a learning network of your own.
Tutorials and day schools
Regular two-hour tutorials and day schools will be provided in support of LESM A202 Police and Society. You will be notified of the dates, time and location, together with the name, phone number and telephone tutoring hours of your tutor, as soon as you are assigned a tutorial group.
Tutorials are not lectures. They are designed to encourage group discussion and interaction. They provide you with opportunities to discuss any problem you encounter in the study units with your tutor and colleagues.
The police are an important feature of any society and the manner in which they are organized, their goals and culture impact upon every citizen.
The Hong Kong Police has changed over time as Hong Kong itself has changed and it has a vital role in Hong Kong's future as an open society. In this course, you will have the chance to examine how the role of the police has evolved and how well it is equipped to deal with the demands that are likely to be placed upon it.
In order to understand the content of this course, you must analyse the course materials and apply the concepts learned.
Good luck with the course. I think that you will find it an interesting one that gives you a greater understanding of one important aspect of the society in which you live.
A note about the developers of this course
Mr Charles Foley, developer for Units 1–2, obtained his BA and MBA from the University of Liverpool in the UK. He has worked in management education and management consulting in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Australia, and over the last 20 years he has been heavily involved in public sector reform. He has worked with the police as a consultant in Hong Kong and in Australia. Mr Foley has taught at the University of Birmingham in England, Canberra University in Australia and at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong.
Mr Simon Chong, developer for Unit 3, obtained his BSocSc and MPhil in Criminology from the University of Hong Kong. In his MPhil, he studied the Police Cautioning Diversion Scheme. At present, he is a part time lecturer for the Diploma in Criminal Justice at SPACE, the University of Hong Kong. The programme mainly caters for students from the Hong Kong Police. He also helping in the preparation of the 'Source Book of Criminal Statistics in Hong Kong' and interview transcripts for the project on 'Domestic Violence in Hong Kong' in his capacity as Research Assistant at the Department of Sociology, the University of Hong Kong. Both his full time and part time jobs require him to possess knowledge of the Hong Kong criminal justice system and specifically the Hong Kong Police.
Dr Kam C Wong, developer for Units 4–10, is Assistant Professor of Law at the Department of Government and Public Administration as well as Director of Chinese Law Program, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He specializes in Chinese criminal law and criminal justice, Hong Kong-PRC legal issues, Hong Kong policing, and comparative policing. Dr Wong was previously an Inspector of Police with the Hong Kong Royal Police and was awarded the Commissioner's High Commendation. He has practised law in the US and was a legal consultant with the Kentucky State Police. He has taught police officers from the US, China, and Hong Kong, e.g. at Southern Police Institute (USA), Scarman Centre, Leicester University for the Study of Public Order (UK), and Civil Service Development Institute of Hong Kong.
Dr Garland Liu, who adapted Units 5–6 and developed Units 7–10 is Assistant Professor of the Arts and Social Sciences School, Hong Kong Metropolitan University. She graduated from the University of Aberdeen with a PhD in sociology. Since joining the School in 1995, she has been coordinating courses in sociology and criminology. She was one of the programme team members preparing for the setting up of the Police and Security Management (PSM) Programme in late 1997. At present, she is the Programme Leader of the PSM Programme and Course Coordinator of LESM A202.
Mr John Murray, developer for Units 5–6 and co-developer for Units 7–10 is a former Assistant Commissioner of Police with the South Australia Police. His police career, spanning over 30 years, began as a constable. Subsequently, he served as prosecutor, detective and educator before taking the commissioned rank. Mr Murray obtained his BA, LLB and MBA from the University of Adelaide and his Graduate Certificate in Legal Practice from the University of South Australia. As a former Head of the Australian Graduate School of Police Management, Charles Sturt University, he has taught senior police in all Australian and New Zealand jurisdictions and various other countries. From 1997, he has led a program for superintendents of the Hong Kong Police.
