The Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) clarifications on Monday (2 Aug) – that no warrant is needed for safe distancing enforcement officers to inspect residences – have raised questions among netizens, with many of them asking if the officers are even well-trained as police officers to be given such power.

URA’s statement came after Singapore actor Nick Mikhail posted a video on Instagram about the authorities conducting an impromptu inspection at his home on 31 July, which has garnered over 178,065 views at the time of writing.

Mr Nick Mikhail said that a few URA officers came into his home without a warrant on 31 July, during which his wife was alone at home and was feeling somewhat under the weather after receiving her second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Following that, URA noted on Monday that safe distancing enforcement officers can enter, inspect, and search various premises, including residences, without a warrant to check that COVID-19 regulations are being complied with.

The Authority claimed that they had contacted Mr Nick Mikhail to address his concerns and to clarify on what happened.

“Since late June this year, agencies had received repeated complaints from residents of the landed housing estate that some residences, including Mr Nick Mikhail’s, were having gatherings with more than the permitted number of visitors,” said URA.

The Authority added that there were also noise complaints from the alleged gatherings.

Hence, officers from different agencies, including the police, were deployed to the housing estate to check for potential breach of COVID-19 regulations as well as noise.

It was said that there were six officers involved, three were safe distancing enforcement officers from URA, and the other three were police officers.

According to the URA, when the officers arrived at Mr Nick Mikhail’s home, they saw the front gate was wide open and the house lights were turned on.

“They also spotted two cars parked outside the residence, and thus proceeded to ascertain whether there were any visitors in the unit, and if the numbers were within permissible limits,” the Authority added.

The officers proceeded to enter the car porch and knocked on the front door, said URA. They identified themselves and explained the purpose of their visit after a woman – Mr Nick Mikhail’s wife – opened the door.

“She agreed to allow the officers entry, and escorted them around the house to facilitate their checks,” the Authority noted, adding that all three safe distancing enforcement officers, one of whom is female, followed her in a single file for the inspection and were mostly in one another’s line of sight.

“Towards the end of the inspection, the female occupant went to retrieve her IC from the next room, with one of the safe distancing enforcement officers following after to take down the details. A police officer and the female safe distancing enforcement officer joined them in the next room shortly after.”

URA went on to say that the inspection lasted less than 10 minutes and that the officers left to check on other homes in the area after establishing that there was no one else in Mr Nick Mikhail’s house.

“The safe distancing enforcement officers and police officers were polite towards the female occupant and treated her with respect throughout the inspection,” said the Authority.

Responding to URA’s statement, Mr Nick Mikhail took to his Instagram on Monday night to give voice to his dissent on the actions of the safe distancing enforcement officers involved in the inspection.

While he acknowledged that the officers were there to carry out their duties, he argued that it was rather inappropriate for them to simply enter the premise of his residence without ringing the bell – even though the gate was open at that time – or providing any notice beforehand.

Having spoken to URA on the whole situation, Mr Nick Mikhail noted that he still feels that the officers acted like “cowboys” and did not abide to the protocols properly.

He added that he was disappointed with the police as the incident was not documented given that the police officer with the body camera had stayed outside of the house during the inspection.

Mr Nick Mikhail also noted that he will be lodging a complaint against the safe distancing enforcement officers who were involved.

One netizen thinks allowing safe distancing enforcement officers to inspect homes without warrants “totally absurd”

Penning their thoughts under the comments section of The Straits Times’ and Mothership’s Facebook posts on the matter, many netizens questioned if safe distancing enforcement officers are even well-trained as the police to conduct such inspections without warrants.

One netizen pointed out that allowing safe distancing enforcement officers to enter homes without warrants are “totally absurd”.

“Are SDA well trained as police officers? Did they go thru courses on ethics and go through thorough assessment? Sorry to say but some SDA have no professionalism and some really need to know what exactly their job is,” said another netizen.

Some netizens pointed out that potential criminals might take advantage of such laws and asked URA to explain ways to identify safe distancing enforcement officers instead.

“I think this will give idea to potential robbers who will present themselves as enforcement officers so that they can enter your house. So the question is how to check if those who wants to enter your house are truly enforcement officers, since they can go into your house without warrant?” said a netizen.

Several other netizens questioned why there were six officers involved in the inspection, given that the current restriction for social gatherings only permits a maximum of two persons in a group.

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