Mr Lau Tat-keung, Gregory is a police superintendent, having joined the police force since 1977. In 1990, he committed to his secondary duty for the Police Negotiation Cadre (PNC) as a negotiator. Over the years he has managed to persuade more than 200 people out of committing suicide. People only have the chance to live once, he says, so it is very important to protect that life. It is this belief that has motivated Mr Lau to send out suicide prevention messages across Hong Kong.

As well as working as a frontline negotiator, Mr Lau also provides planning and training services for the PNC. He says that it is crucial to be open-minded and have a non-judgmental attitude when talking with those contemplating taking their own lives. Mr Lau also works with professionals, including social workers and medical staff, to provide follow-up services to help people with suicidal thoughts to tackle any emotional and psychiatric diffi culties. Mr Lau also trains fellow young offi cers in his negotiation techniques and strategies. His passion for saving lives has resulted in a number of young offi cers also committing as negotiators.

In recent years there have also been suicides occurring at schools or among school children. So to help prevent this in the future, Mr Lau has joined hands with the Hong Kong Christian Service to launch a series of seminars on school crisis management. Over the past fi ve years, more than 2,000 teachers and social workers from over 700 secondary schools have attended his seminars. Many of them said that the workshops had raised their awareness about how to spot students, who are emotionally disturbed or may have suicidal thoughts, and help them cope. In 2007 and 2008, Mr Lau collaborated with The University of Hong Kong’s Centre on Behavioral Health to create and launch a series of suicide prevention campaigns, including a training programme for police offi cers to help them talk to suicidal people. He also works with the Hospital Authority, social organizations, and primary and secondary schools producing educational kits and videos on suicide prevention.

Through his work, Mr Lau has seen how, in Hong Kong society, people are prejudiced towards those who have tried to take their own lives because of mental problems or emotional disturbance. Because of this climate within society, he says, it takes more time and effort to spread suicide prevention awareness. But standing by his mission to “save lives”, he believes that he can spread the messages to different communities within Hong Kong. Mr Lau is due to retire next year, but he has vowed to continue his voluntary promotion and training services, so as to motivate more kindred spirits to join his humanitarian endeavours.