The Junior Police Call is dedicated to strengthening youngsters' sense of responsibility and developing their leadership skills through the provision of meaningful activities, Police Commissioner Dick Lee said at a ceremony to mark the group's 30th anniversary today.

Established in 1974, JPC aims to enhance communication between Police and young people and encourage them to join the fight against crime through healthy and educational pursuits. Targeting youths aged nine to 25, JPC has a membership of 140,000 and is one of the largest youth organisations in Hong Kong and the world.

"We will introduce new elements to the programme, including systematic development and more activities to boost members' creativity and leadership skills with a view to training up future leaders to serve the community," Mr Lee said.

The ceremony kicked off a series of activities to be held in the months to come.

New ambassadors named to spread the message

During the ceremony, Mr Lee appointed outstanding athletes Ho Ka-lai, Cheng Ka-ho, Fung Ying-ki, and Yu Yiu-tung, as well as serving police officers Lai Hok-yan and Angie Tsang as JPC 30th Anniversary Ambassadors to help the organisation disseminate fight crime messages.

In addition, they screened a short film featuring the development of JPC over the years and launched a new JPC theme that Gigi Leung composed and sang.

Young people urged to join up

After the ceremony, the ambassadors took part in bus tours to visit recruitment counters on Paterson Street in Causeway Bay, and outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre to appeal to young people to enrol as JPC members.

Counters were set up in all districts in support of today's territory-wide recruitment drive.

Youngsters interested in joining the JPC are welcome to obtain application forms from police stations and JPC clubhouses or download the forms from the JPC website.