On 20 April, Member of Parliament for Nee Soon GRC, Mr Lous Ng posted a series of photos, showing him to be in police uniform and joining two police officers on their patrol.
He wrote, “I gained experience as a police officer today and you might have been a bit surprised seeing me patrol the Nee Soon area together with officers from the Yishun North NPC Community Policing Unit!”
But despite the warm gesture by the MP to understand the work that the police officers have to do, there is a question that comes from his action.
Under the Singapore law, Section 120A(1)(a)(ii), a person who knowing that is likely to cause any member of the public to believe that he is a police officer shall be guilty of an offence.
Unless the accused had the express permission of the Commissioner to wear or possess the police uniform or use the police insignia or the accused wore or possessed the police uniform or used the police insignia for the purposes of a public entertainment provided in compliance with the Public Entertainments and Meetings Act (Cap. 257).
So did Mr Ng received permission from the Police Commissioner to wear the police uniform? Of course, as a PAP MP in the Minister of Home Affair’s GRC, it is most likely that such request would be granted.
But explicitly, was such a permission granted by the commissioner, or should we take for granted that since a request would have been granted, no one should care if a permission was granted in the first place?
TOC has sent questions to both the MP and the Singapore Police Force last week, however, none has replied so far. We will include their response when they reply.
120A. Wearing and possession of police uniforms, etc., by others