Who else can help if police are preoccupied?
Tue, Feb 26, 2008
The Straits Times
I WOULD like to know who residents can contact when the police
are unable to respond to calls for help for genuine reasons such as
a temporary lack of resources.
Two Monday evenings ago, a group of rowdy teenagers in school
uniform - four boys and six girls - decided to make our Housing
Board corridor on the upper floors their party venue.
They were noisy. At first, they were verbally obscene. Then,
when they started burning tissue paper and sniffing glue, they took
off their tops.
Concerned, my wife called the police.
When no officer arrived after about 20 minutes, she called another
police station and was advised that they were informed of her
report and would send officers to check.
After an hour, and with no sign of the police, my wife called the
police to ask why they hadn't come.
She was told resources were limited because there were more
urgent reports that required attention. I can accept the
explanation and understand the difficult demands placed on our
police force.
I have two suggestions:
First, the police should advise residents who else they can call
for help if such situations arise - the town council, perhaps?
Second, residents should be advised on a subsequent course of
action to safeguard themselves if the police are unable to attend
to public calls for assistance. For instance, how do we know when
to call whom?
The teenagers left behind a mess. They threw some packs of liquid
over the parapet and left a trail of painkillers, burnt tissue,
glue and sweet wrappers.
However, we considered ourselves lucky in this case because no
one was hurt.
Eu Eng Sing
Perhaps the police were too busy conducting surveillance on Dr.
Chee, because everytime Dr. Chee and company appears in public,
there would be hordes of police officers trailing him.
