Police should not be used as scapegoats, tool for politics: Shanmugam
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said there are lessons to be drawn from events elsewhere where the police are seen as the enemy.
ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
Follow topic:
SINGAPORE - Confidence in the Singapore Police Force (SPF) remains high, but the relationship between the police and the community should not be taken for granted and allowed to turn adversarial.
In a speech at the Police Workplan Seminar and Exhibition at the Singapore Expo on Friday, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said there are lessons to be drawn from events elsewhere where the police are seen as the enemy rather than protector of the community.
He cited the January 2020 riot at Capitol Hill.
Supporters of former president Donald Trump, a Republican, stormed the seat of the United States government armed with stun guns, baseball bats and other weapons after he lost the election to President Joe Biden,
Mr Shanmugam said the police there were caught in the political maelstrom.
Although property was damaged, and more than 140 officers were injured and over 1,000 people were arrested, some in the media and politics tried to downplay the insurrection for their own gain.
“Fox News ran a story earlier this year, using some security footage that was shared by the Speaker of the House... The commentator said the Democrats lied to the Americans about the events,” said Mr Shanmugam, who noted that the Speaker, a Republican, is second in the presidential line of succession.
The minister said political moves like these drag the police into the middle of political debates.
He added that it could happen in all democracies amid a tussle for political power, with certain groups or people using the police as a scapegoat or collateral damage in making political points.
“So, we try and avoid this, and support the police to be neutral and independent, not to be used for political purposes. Neither should the police be made a victim of politicking,” said Mr Shanmugam.
The minister also cited US gun ownership to illustrate how laws affect the way police officers handle day-to-day situations.
He does not believe Americans are more or less prone to violence compared with people from other countries, including Singapore.
But when 50 to 60 police officers are killed by firearms every year, and when officers know of colleagues who have been shot, it will impact their mindset, he added.
Addressing SPF officers at the event, Mr Shanmugam said: “If there are four million guns out there, for our 3.6 million citizen population, I think our officers will have a very different mindset.
“You will attend to each incident with fear. And the slightest suspicion might trigger an instinctive reaction – to shoot or be shot.”
Singapore Police Force officers at the Police Workplan Seminar and Exhibition on May 12.
ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
Mr Shanmugam said the police cannot be allowed to be caught in social divides, such as racial and religious ones, or political issues. He said the government must deal with societal issues, and the police must enforce the law.
“The fault lines in society have to be dealt with by the government, and they have to be dealt with effectively, because when tensions escalate, public disorder breaks out, there are outcomes that the police have no choice but to deal with,” added Mr Shanmugam.
“In doing so, if there are serious socio-political divides, the police will then be seen as taking sides, attacking particular ethnicities or particular demographics (those in the protests).”
He cited the Hong Kong protests in 2019
The police there were called to restore law and order but, in so doing, they were accused by the public of being partial and oppressive, and seen as part of the problem. It became a “people versus police” situation, said Mr Shanmugam.
“The Hong Kong Police Force went from being ‘Asia’s finest’ to being the subject of hatred and even disgust,
In his speech, Mr Shanmugam noted that policing is a demanding job, and called for the right remuneration for officers as they face a higher risk of getting injured in the line of duty, work shifts and are on duty on public holidays.
He added that it is also important to stand up for officers, and swiftly and firmly debunk falsehoods when they are attacked unfairly.
He highlighted the case of a police officer falsely accused of bullying an elderly woman in Yishun in 2021.
Mr Shanmugam had to invoke the fake news law,
After TOC doubled down on its claims, the police released two clips of body-worn camera footage
But former TOC editor Terry Xu, now the publisher of The Online Citizen Asia (TOCA), repeated the falsehood in April and May 2023. The allegations were also carried on TOCA’s social media pages.
On Tuesday, Mr Shanmugam instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue correction directions to Mr Xu and TOCA, ordering them to post corrections.
At the event on Friday, the minister said: “Our officers know that when there are false or unfair allegations, we will act quickly and decisively to tell the truth and stand by the officers.”
He added that where there is wrongdoing by police officers, firm action has been and will be taken, to maintain the trust that has been placed in the police force by the public.
The minister said in Parliament earlier this year that there were about 78 disciplinary proceedings a year against potentially errant officers, which accounted for about 0.7 per cent of the regular force.
In his speech, Mr Shanmugam noted that 87 per cent of respondents in a 2020 survey by the Institute of Policy Studies said they had confidence, or high confidence, in the SPF. It is the highest among state institutions in Singapore, and the highest among police forces globally, he added.
This positive view was also reflected in the 2022 Gallup Global Law and Order report, which found that 93 per cent of Singapore respondents had confidence in the police.
“It is the trust that enables the police to, first, prevent crimes – they keep (the) crime rate low in the first place – and to solve crimes, when they do take place.
“And if the public trusts the police and police investigations, that allows the police to work better,” said Mr Shanmugam, who added that it is fortunate that there are high levels of trust in the police and public institutions in Singapore.
