SINGAPORE – It started as a call for police assistance after a man locked himself in a Sembawang flat with a two-year-old boy on a Tuesday evening in 2016.

But the matter was resolved only after a 17-hour stand-off, with officers from the Special Operations Command forcing their way into the HDB flat to arrest the man and rescue the boy.

Before they broke into the fifth-floor unit, another team of officers had been busy negotiating with the man to try to resolve the situation peacefully.

That team was part of the Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU), which was formed by the Singapore Police Force in 2002 with fewer than 50 people. It now has more than 100 negotiators and psychologists within its ranks.

The unit’s deputy commanding officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police Devrajan Bala, said that while they were unable to resolve the 2016 stand-off without the use of force, it was not considered a mission failure.

“The many hours of negotiation allowed us to better understand the situation and wear the man out,” said AC Bala, who was at the scene of the stand-off, adding that when the man was tired, it gave the team “a better window of opportunity if we decide to use force”.

But officers in the unit do more than just respond to hostage situations. In 2021, the CNU responded to 65 incidents, ranging from suicide attempts to barricaded individuals.

Mr Seah Thian Pau, who is now 69 and retired, had been part of the unit since its inception.

He noted that it was formed to respond to all manner of crises in quick fashion.

He had joined the CNU with real-life experience, having been a pioneer member of the Negotiation Team – a precursor to the current negotiation unit – and he was also involved in the resolution of the hijacking of Singapore Airlines Flight SQ117 in 1991.

“In those days when we were training, it was more (focused) on terrorists taking hostages, the demands (they) made.

“When we changed to the CNU, it was not terrorist-based but more about crises. For example, in a suicide case, we try and talk them out,” said Mr Seah, who retired from the force in 2008 with the rank of deputy superintendent of police.

In terms of personnel distribution, AC Bala said a team is on standby around the clock in any particular month, with the entire CNU split into four teams.

Its members also juggle a primary appointment on top of their negotiating duties.

When asked about the significance of the unit, he said: “If you think of resolving (situations) only with guns… going in with your guns blazing, surely that won’t be a peaceful resolution. People get hurt.

“Negotiations... give you the opportunity to lower tensions, to bring some rationality into what’s going on that day.”

As a member of the pioneer batch of negotiators, AC Bala was trained by experienced hostage negotiators from the United Kingdom.

During his 20 years in the CNU, he has handled his fair share of memorable cases, including one that lasted for 21 hours.

It was some time in 2003, early on in his negotiating career. A foreign national had climbed to the top of a crane in Yio Chu Kang, about seven storeys high, and threatened to jump down.

The crane was situated atop a deep tunnel sewerage system, which made the situation all the more precarious.

It took 21 hours before the man was convinced to climb down, AC Bala recounted, adding that he had worked throughout the night trying to get through to the man.

After returning home for a short rest, he was back at the scene to continue negotiating with the man.

AC Bala said: “People cope with difficulties in life in different ways, so we don’t try to downplay what people are going through.

“The feeling of being able to save a life at the end of it is actually very rewarding. That’s why our negotiators keep doing this year after year.”