The Police Seem To Have No Sense of Priority

Remember Char? He had posted some allegedly offensive cartoons of Jesus on his blog. Someone called the police and this led to the police investigating Char for possible offences under the Sedition Act. A few months ago, I wrote about Char's case, and in the Comment section of my post, I queried whether the police was wasting time and resources on such cases instead of focusing on serious criminal matters:

".... In contrast - and you may not know this - if you have ever been a victim of other kinds of offence:

(minor molest? stolen handphone? neighbour hit you? husband threatened you with violence? car vandalised?)

you may be very disappointed to discover that the police may not be very keen to investigate the case. They simply are too busy. They will often tell you to take out a private lawsuit; or they will tell you that your matter is very minor; or they let you make a police report, then chuck it into the file and do almost nothing.

I cited an example of a violent case of gang assault on a young girl . The police didn't seem to bother with the matter at all:

I do not know whether you are aware of this case -

... and the police response as reported in the media. This is an outright crime, in a public place, organised, premeditated violence; and there is extremely clear evidence that the crime did occur (event was caught on video);

and the police response was: "Oh, we will respond if someone makes a police report."

In other words, if the victim doesn't come forward to report (due to fear etc), the police won't bother to investigate.

Some of you may not be convinced, and may believe that these were one-off incidents, freak examples of terrible police inaction. Well, here are two more examples for you to think about:

1. You get beaten by two men in a road rage incident, in broad daylight, and so badly that you black out twice. The police arrive at the scene and guess what they do? Nothing much.

2. Read this ST Forum letter - six young punks beat up a Singaporean doctor eating at a coffeeshop, breaking a few bones in his face. The doctor needs a 3-hour operation and six months to recover. Again, what did the police do? Read for yourself.

And what DO the police waste their time on, apart from "seditious" bloggers? Ask Yawning Bread - he can tell you. Harassing "Mardi Gras girls" at a party. But not the "Tequila girls" at the same party. What's the difference, you ask? Not much, sensible people would say. But then the police are not sensible. Read more here.

Well, the good news is that we still have hope. The TODAY newspaper reported this on 4 August 2006:

Police may reduce their role in licensing

The police may no longer be the agency issuing licences or regulating businesses that do not cause law and order problems.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said yesterday he has asked the law enforcement agency to relook its areas of responsibility.

Speaking at the Home Team National Day Observance ceremony, Mr Wong said the police should not be distracted by non-policing issues.

They can then refocus on core areas of responsibility in security, and law and order.

According to 938Live, a review is underway.

Well, I hope you finish the review soon, Mr Wong Kan Seng. So that the next time a Singaporean gets his head beaten in by a bunch of gangsters, the police will actually do something.

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Technorati: Singapore; police; crime.