Ready, get set.... police, no action.

excerpts from ST forum 8 Aug 2006...

ATTACK ON DOCTOR BY BIKERS
Assault 'a civil case', so no police action

MY YOUNGER brother is a medical doctor working in a Singapore
hospital.

On April 15 at about 11.30pm he dined alone at his favourite food
stall in Geylang Lorong 9. After his supper he was approached by a group of six to eight youths who accused him of staring at them. When he denied doing so, they assaulted him, beating him in the face and abdomen.

He suffered multiple facial fractures and damage to one of his facial nerves. He had to undergo a three-hour operation, which included having two metal plates inserted around one of his eyes.

He will need six months to recover fully and, even then, there will be some deformation to his facial features.

Immediately after the assault, when the gang ran to their motorcycles which were parked nearby, my brother gave chase and, despite his pain and the bleeding, called
999.

While the police were on the hotline, he read out two of the motorcycles' number plates to them from within 5m. The police came 20 minutes later and then only after a second call.

My brother told them what happened and urged them to alert police patrol cars nearby to be on the lookout as the motorcyclists were probably not too far away. Quite shockingly, the police declined and instead asked him to lodge a report with the Magistrates' Court, and left.

What is alarming is that in spite of the serious injuries that my brother suffered which required three days' hospitalisation, the police were unwilling to take up the case.

The police advised that this was a civil case and it was for the magistrate to decide if any action was to be taken.

One would have thought that when anyone is assaulted by a gang of six to eight
hooligans and suffered injuries to the extent that my brother did, the case
would have been classified as causing grievous hurt and pursued as a criminal
case.

The attitude of the police, as demonstrated in this case, will only serve to embolden hooligans to commit even more such offences.

It was only when an appeal was made that my brother's case was reclassified under Section 325 (from Section 323), 10 days after the incident, by which time witnesses
would have dispersed and memories faded.

Had the police acted promptly, especially when they were at the scene, they might have had a better chance of apprehending the culprits as there were witnesses around.

Liew Sok Kuan (Ms)

The lousy memory of dealing with a policeman in SK police centre came flying back to me. The day after Ryanne's passing, we were supposed to get her death cert from a police post. We were early, reached the police post around 9am, since we want to get things done fast.

Wife: We would like to get a death cert done. (Hand over the necessary papers)
policeman: For who?
Wife: Our daugther.
policeman: Daughter?! (loudly... as if he's expecting our grandparents' or something)
Wife: Yes, our daughter who is 1 years old.
policeman: Ok... (starts booting up system... pick up the phone and start calling his colleauges)

we overheard...

policeman: hey! what's the password huh? yah... need to do a death cert. come leh... help out.

policeman: Where's the birth cert number?? Is it... S77...
Wife: No. That's mine. My daughter's only 1years old.
policeman: (nodded) ok ok. Is she still born?
Wife and Hakkboyz together: No. She's 1 years old!!

after sometime, 45mins to be exact, and after lots of phone calls (internal ones, including intercomms,... not forgeting lots of small chats in between with fellow colleagues with topics like the breakfast, and last night's supper)

Hakkaboyz: Hello, we are in a hurry to attend to our daughter's funeral arrangement, can you please hurry up?
policeman: Can't you see I'm busy, and I'm alone here!!
Wife: If you can just focus and do 1 thing at a time, I'm sure this will be over in 10 mins.

After another 15mins, 3 draft copies, since our dear policeman can't read and spell, and not forgetting he didn't know how to use the system, the ordeal is finally over. A total of 1 hr was spent in that police station... just for a death cert.

What I can say? If they can't even do simple paperwork and show some empathy to the grieving party, I'm not surprise of what was reported above. So... what else can they do?

Good luck singapore, let's hope the streets are as safe as ever... and yes, ...happy national day.