The keychain the commune police chief gave General Secretary To Lam
In a recent meeting with typical examples of advanced people in the People's Public Security force, Captain Hoang Ngoc Minh (Chief of Vinh Hoang Commune Police, Quang Tri) chose a "security keychain" as a gift for General Secretary To Lam.
At the meeting, Captain Hoang Ngoc Minh was invited to report his achievements to the Party and State leaders.
He respectfully presented General Secretary To Lam with a "security keychain" - an initiative model of Vinh Thai Commune Police (formerly, now Vinh Hoang Commune), printed with the on-duty phone number, commune leaders and the slogan "For a peaceful life - All people participate in denouncing crimes".
“The security keychain is not just an item, 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 the keychain are many stories that the police forces at the grassroots level face and handle every day.
On the afternoon of the 29th of Tet At Ty 2025, while many families were busy preparing to welcome the new year, Ms. Le Thanh Thuy, 42 years old, picked up a wallet on the side of the road. Inside the wallet was 1.5 million VND, not too much money for many people, but for a poor family in a coastal area, it could be the whole Tet holiday.
Ms. Thuy went to the commune police station, put her wallet on the table and said: "Please help me find the person who lost it."
Upon receiving the news, Captain Hoang Ngoc Minh, the Commune Police Chief, immediately announced it over the loudspeaker and sent officers to check the villages. In less than an hour, they found the owner, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hoa, a skinny woman who lived with her disabled aunt in a dilapidated house. 1.5 million VND was all the money she planned to spend on Tet.
“Seeing Mrs. Hoa shakingly holding the money, I knew I couldn’t stop there,” said Mr. Minh. That evening, the commune police officers donated 6 million VND to her. The commune police chief also recorded a video and wrote a call for support on his personal page.
Mr. Minh shared: "On New Year's Eve, thousands of messages and calls poured into my phone number with condolences for Mrs. Hoa. On the evening of the 6th day of Tet, the Commune Police announced 27 pages of statements of the total amount of money the whole country donated to support the poor woman, which was 168 million VND. This was beyond the imagination of the Commune Police and Mrs. Hoa's family."
With the above amount of money, on March 5, the Commune Police coordinated with the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of the Commune to organize a groundbreaking ceremony to build a charity house for Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa's family. During the construction process, the Commune Police called on businesses and organizations to support glass, walls, furniture, etc. At the end of June, the new 40m2 house2, blue painted walls, spacious and warm completed.
Captain Minh recalled the moment when Mrs. Hoa tearfully said: “This is the greatest joy of my life. It is not only a roof to protect me from the rain and sun, but also the trust and love of the police force and the people in the commune and people across the country for me.”
"Must understand the people, understand this land"
The New Year's Eve story is just part of Captain Hoang Ngoc Minh's more than 5-year journey of staying at the base.
In March 2020, implementing the major policy of "Strong Ministry, Strong Province, Comprehensive District, Grassroots Commune", he was transferred from the district police force to work as Chief of Police of Vinh Thai Commune, a coastal commune with many difficulties in Quang Tri Province.
On the first day of his assignment, the security and order situation in the commune was still unstable. Young people gathered to drink and quarrel; some people exploited seafood with explosives, destroying the environment; complaints were filed at higher levels for more than 5 years related to the titanium sand mining project.
“To solve this problem, we must understand the people and this land,” Captain Minh explained. He and his teammates went to every alley, into every house, patrolling and listening.
“We have done a good job of mass mobilization to stabilize the political security situation and social order and safety in the locality, ending the situation of complaints and petitions that have lasted for more than 5 consecutive years. Businesses are given favorable conditions to develop and create jobs for local people,” Captain Minh shared.
As a result, the situation of gathering and causing trouble has significantly decreased, illegal fishing cases have been handled, and long-standing complaints have been resolved. Security is stable, businesses operate smoothly, and people have more jobs.
In 2020, faced with the reality that many incidents occurred but the information reported to the police was slow, people were confused and did not know who to contact, Vinh Thai Commune Police proposed the model of "Security Keychain". The keychain is compact, printed on both sides. One side has the phone number of the on-duty officer, the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, and the Chief of Commune Police. The other side is printed with the slogan "For a peaceful life - All people participate in denouncing crimes".
When distributed to each household, the effectiveness was evident. In just a few years, more than 2,500 reports, denunciations, property searches, legal advice, etc. were received and processed promptly. People knew the official contact channel and were no longer scammed by phone numbers impersonating officials.
Emergency calls to rescue fishermen in distress at sea or to report fires are now immediately forwarded to the authorities. The Director of Quang Tri Provincial Police Department has assessed the “Security Keychain” model as a creative and effective initiative that needs to be replicated.
The Commune Police Department has been awarded the title of “Excellent Party Cell” for 5 consecutive years and has been awarded many Certificates of Merit and the title “Determined to Win”. Captain Hoang Ngoc Minh has been awarded the title of “Emulation Fighter” 4 times.
He is proud of the trust people have in the force. “When people trust, everything becomes easier. Every time someone calls me in the middle of the night to tell me what has happened, I know that my efforts and those of my colleagues will not be in vain,” he shared.