The keychain that the head of the commune's police presented to General Secretary To Lam.

At the meeting, Captain Hoang Ngoc Minh was invited to report on his achievements to the Party and State leaders.

He respectfully presented General Secretary To Lam with a "security keychain" - an innovative model from the Vinh Thai (formerly Vinh Hoang) commune police, printed with the duty officer's phone number, the commune leader's phone number, and the slogan "For a peaceful life - All citizens participate in reporting crimes".

"The security keychain is not just a tool, but a symbol of the connection between the government and the people, of the trust we have built in the area," Captain Hoang Ngoc Minh shared.

Behind that keychain lie many stories, stories that local police forces face and handle on a daily basis.

On the afternoon of the 29th day of the Lunar New Year (Year of the Snake 2025), while many families were busy preparing to welcome the new year, Ms. Le Thanh Thuy, 42 years old, found a wallet on the roadside. Inside the wallet was 1.5 million VND, a sum not too large for many people, but for a poor family in a coastal area, it could be their entire Lunar New Year celebration.

Ms. Thuy went to the commune police station, placed her wallet on the table, and said, "Please help me find the owner of this lost wallet."

Upon receiving the information, Captain Hoang Ngoc Minh, the head of the commune's police, immediately announced it over the loudspeaker and dispatched officers to search the villages. In less than an hour, they found the owner, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hoa, a thin woman living with her disabled aunt in a dilapidated house. 1.5 million dong was all the money she intended to use for Tet (Lunar New Year).

"Seeing Mrs. Hoa trembling as she held the money, I knew I couldn't stop there," Minh recounted. That evening, the commune's police officers donated 6 million VND to her. The commune's police chief also recorded a video and wrote a plea for support on his personal page.

Mr. Minh shared: "On New Year's Eve, thousands of messages and calls poured into my phone, expressing sympathy for Mrs. Hoa. By the evening of the 6th day of Tet, the commune police announced a 27-page statement showing the total amount of donations from across the country for the poor woman was 168 million VND. This was beyond the imagination of the commune police force and Mrs. Hoa's family."

With the funds raised, on March 5th, the commune police, in coordination with the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of the commune, held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a charitable house for Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa. Throughout the construction process, the commune police appealed to businesses and organizations for support in providing glass, walls, interior furnishings, etc. By the end of June, the new 40m² house was completed.²The house, with its blue painted walls, was completed to a spacious and warm atmosphere.

Captain Minh recalled the moment Mrs. Hoa tearfully said, "This is the greatest joy of my life. It's not just a roof over my head, but also the trust and love that the police force and the people in my commune, as well as people across the country, have shown me."

"We must understand the people, understand this land."

The New Year's Eve story is just one part of Captain Hoang Ngoc Minh's more than five-year journey working in the field.

In March 2020, in line with the major policy of "a streamlined central government, a strong provincial government, a comprehensive district government, and a grassroots-based commune government," he was transferred from the district police force to become the Chief of Police of Vinh Thai commune, a coastal commune in Quang Tri province that still faces many difficulties.

On the first day of taking office, the security and order situation in the commune remained unstable. Young people gathered to drink alcohol and fight; some individuals were exploiting marine resources using explosives, destroying the environment; and there were prolonged, escalated complaints related to the titanium sand mining project that lasted more than 5 years.

"To solve the problem, we must understand the people, understand this land," Captain Minh explained. He and his teammates went from street to street, into every house, patrolling and listening at the same time.

"We have done a good job in mobilizing the people to stabilize the political security situation and social order in the locality, putting an end to the prolonged situation of complaints and appeals to higher levels that had lasted for more than 5 years. Businesses have been given favorable conditions to develop and create jobs for people in the area," Captain Minh shared.

As a result, disruptive gatherings have significantly decreased, illegal fishing cases have been dealt with, and long-standing complaints have been resolved definitively. Security is stable, businesses operate smoothly, and people have more jobs.

In 2020, faced with the reality that many incidents occurred but were reported to the police late, leaving people confused about who to contact, the Vinh Thai Commune Police proposed the "Security Keychain" model. The keychain is small and compact, printed on both sides. One side displays the phone numbers of the duty officer, the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, and the Head of the Commune Police. The other side features the slogan "For a peaceful life - All citizens participate in reporting crimes."

When distributed to individual households, the effectiveness was evident. In just a few years, more than 2,500 reports, denunciations, property searches, and legal consultations were received and processed promptly. People knew the official contact channels and were no longer scammed by fake phone numbers impersonating officials.

Emergency calls to rescue fishermen in distress at sea or to report fires are now immediately forwarded to the relevant authorities. The Director of the Quang Tri Provincial Police Department has assessed the "Security Keychain" model as an innovative and effective initiative that should be replicated.

The commune's police force has consistently achieved the title of "Party Branch that has excellently fulfilled its duties" for five consecutive years, and has received numerous commendations and the "Victory" title. Captain Hoang Ngoc Minh alone has received the "Outstanding Emulation Soldier" title four times.

He is proud of the trust the people place in the force. "When the people trust us, everything becomes easier. Every time someone calls me in the middle of the night to report something that just happened, I know that my efforts and those of my colleagues will not be in vain," he shared.