It was reported that a recent video capturing an exchange between a man and a security officer at Eight Riversuites has gone viral.
With regard to the incident, the Association of Certified Security Agencies (ACSA) has issued a public statement on Saturday (26 Oct) to condemn the untoward behaviour of the man towards the senior security supervisor and applauds the calm, composed and professional conduct exhibited by the officer during the tense face-off. It said that the association does not tolerate the abuse of security officers whilst they are discharging their duties.
Mainstream media like the Straits Times (ST) has also reported on the matter. The man who was involved in the incident is said to be employed by JP Morgan. JP Morgan told ST yesterday (27 Oct) that it is aware of the video and is “looking into the matter”.
In the video, a man in a sleeveless shirt and shorts is seen yelling and swearing at the top of his voice after being told by the senior security supervisor that he needed to pay parking fees for guests visiting the condo. He told the security officers that he had bought his apartment for $1.5 million, and began swearing at the officer.
Man: Condo security bullying my visitor
A screenshot of the man’s comment in a closed Facebook group for the condo’s residents has also been circulating in social media. In his defence, he claimed that the security officer was “bullying” his visitor by asking what time he was going to leave.
“In what capacity the security can decide on what time my visitor should leave,” the man wrote. “He (security officer) was not allowing my visitor to enter when the time of entry was 10.30pm and not even 11.”
“When I went down I asked the security to give me the receipt and I will deal with the management but he insisted to pay (sic). Again in what capacity he must ask me to pay when I myself dosnt (sic) know what time my visitor would leave,” he added.
He said that his Deepavali weekend was ruined by the incident as he had received more than 200 threatening calls, after disclosing his mobile number in the viral video.
Tharman weighs in
Meanwhile, Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has weighed in on the matter. He wrote on his Facebook page yesterday night saying that what the resident did was wrong “at so many levels”.
Criticizing the man’s sense of entitlement, SM Tharman said, “It is these examples of modern-day bigotry and a sense of entitlement that the light of Deepavali seeks to dispel.”
“Kudos to the condo security officer, who handled the abuse and a very unpleasant situation in a dignified way,” he praised the officer.
But SM Tharman also asked everyone not to threaten or harass the man and leave it to the Police to investigate. “We should absolutely avoid threatening or harassing the resident concerned. A police report has been made by the security officer, and we should leave it to the Police to handle,” he said.
TOC has seen the police report that was made on Saturday (26 Oct) by the officer in the video who was the security supervisor on site.
The supervisor wrote,
“The resident was visibly unhappy, aggressive and hurling vulgarities towards the whole incident and commented that he paid $1.5 million for his unit and not staying in a HDB unit and it was nonsense for him to pay 10 dollars for the overnight parking charges. Told him that we are just enforcing the rule He threatens to park the car at the main entrance driveway and walk into the condominium and told us that we can contact the Police if we wanted to. In order not to create a scene and aggravate the matter I decided to allow the driver in without paying the overnight charges and informed the resident that we will get the condominium management to contact him I am lodging this report for record purposes.”
Below is the viral video which captures the exchange between the condo resident and the Senior Security Supervisor of Eight Riversuites.
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