According to an article by The Straits Times (ST) on Friday (1 Nov), the services of the security agency at Eight Riversuites condominium, which has made headlines this past week following the recent viral video of a resident berating a security officer during the Deepavali weekend, have been replaced with a new security agency.
What’s more, as reported by TODAY, a handful of residents at the condo said that “there had been complaints about the performance of the previous team of security guards” for the past six months, and that “the change has been a month in the works”.
One of the residents pointed out that the “condominium has many stairs and it is a very big estate”, and there were concerns on the security guards from the previous team being “unable to climb the stairs or move about” as they were all “quite elderly”.
Apparently, the condo’s management submitted a one-month notice of service termination to the security firm, KH Security, and the last day of employment was on Thursday (31 Oct).
Meanwhile, ST noted – from its visit to the condominium earlier today – that the previous security agency had been replaced with those from a new security agency, Alpine Security.
Man involved in viral video apologises “many times” to condo security supervisor in private meeting
Interestingly, on Wednesday (30 Oct), the resident, Mr Ramesh Erramalli, who was part of the viral video had offered his apology “many times” to the senior security supervisor in a private meeting.
Mr Gary Haris, the Honorary Secretary of the Association of Certified Security Agencies (ACSA), revealed in a Facebook post that revealed that Ramesh Erramalli met with the security supervisor Steven Heng Woo Wee, along with Security Association of Singapore (SAS) President Raj, Joshua Thomas, at the Eight Riversuites condominium for a chat.
“(Mr Erramalli) was very remorseful and he apologised to (Mr Heng) many times during the long-long meeting,” said Mr Haris.
How it all happened
Last Friday night (25 Oct), a man was caught on video yelling and hurling vulgarities at security guards after being told he needed to pay parking fees for guests visiting his condominium.
The footage of the incident – which reportedly took place at Eight Riversuites condominium in Bendemeer – was first posted on YouTube, and has been circulating across social media, making headlines.
In the video, a man dressed in a sleeveless shirt and shorts can be seen expressing his displeasure virulently towards the security guards.
The man, a resident at that place, told the security officers that he had bought his condominium unit for S$1.5 million, and subsequently started uttering profanities.
“I buy your f****** property for S$1.5 million you know,” exclaimed the man.
As the video progresses, the security guards were constantly explaining that they are just “enforcing the rules”, yet the man was adamant to his stance as he continued to berate them.
Once the video went viral, the ill-tempered man was identified as Mr Ramesh Erramalli, a foreign talent from India who works at global financial services company J.P. Morgan in Singapore.
What else happened afterwards
Following the incident, the Union of Security Employees (USE) and two security agency associations strongly condemned the abuse of security personnel, as reported by The Straits Times (ST).
In a statement on Sunday (27 Oct), the USE said that it is working with the police on the case, and that it has been handing out notices about respecting security officers who are performing their duties.
Moreover, the union and both associations commended the security officers for being restrained and calm throughout the incident, and stressed that they were just enforcing the rules set by the condominium management – Management Corporation Strata Title (MCST).
Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam also took to his Facebook on Sunday to support the security officer and noted that what the resident did was wrong “at so many levels”.
In light of this, J.P. Morgan sent an internal email memo on Tuesday (29 Oct) reminding its Singapore-based staff to uphold a “culture of respect” in their daily conduct. The memo was sent by Mr Edmund Lee, the senior officer of the multinational investment bank’s Singapore office.
Not forgetting, a police report was also made on Tuesday on alleged doxxing of Mr Ramesh Erramalli after his personal details went public. While the police did not reveal who lodged the report, the Straits Times reported that the report against harassment was lodged by the man in the video itself.
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