Makes sense. Another thing the CCP has been doing in HK and in Taiwan is putting their people into administrative jobs where they appear to blend in but in fact are sleepers. When the time is deemed to be right, they will be activated and will replace elected leaders in the positions of control. This comes from a source with deep China knowledge.
Now combine this with your theory about “next generation police”. Those volunteers who might initially only be heading up small local teams doing contact tracing or community policing are the sleepers, who would be moved into positions of real power, e.g. “police chief”, etc.
This scenario makes me nervous because people on our side want to see the good and don’t always see what is going on. Frog in the pot of boiling water...
Outstanding comment.