Are Singapore Police Force (SPF) officers allowed to take a photos with members of the public? This is the question that one netizen, Chan Mun Chung, asked on the SPF Facebook page when he related his experience with officers at the Airport Police Post on Good Friday morning.
https://www.facebook.com/singaporepoliceforce/posts/10156122413334408?match=Y2hhbiBtdW4gY2h1bmcscG9saWNl
He wrote: “1 of my young children wanted to take a photo with the policeman at the Airport Police Post for his school project on occupation on Good Friday morning. I went into the police post and asked the officer but the officer said he was not allowed to. My children were so disappointed and I had a hard time explaining to them……”
The rejection comes as a slap in the face for the SPF’s Community Policing System (COPS) project, which aimed to bring the SPF “closer to the community”. The project was first launched in 2012 and has been implemented in all 35 of the country’s neighborhood police posts.
According to former Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, the project was attributed to the ideas of the late Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
“He (LKY) suggested that the police should be part of community… they should be out walking around, befriending the community members and therefore, getting the support of the community.” said Mr Goh.
A disappointed Mr Chan wrote on the SPF Facebook: “Wouldn’t it be a good thing for the public to be brought closer to the people in blue by allowing some simple photography rather than creating a shield between the public and SPF? What can be done?”