This is a Circuit Breaker Enforcement Officer.
Every day, they walk tirelessly on the streets of Singapore, reminding people about safe distancing measures and asking them to comply with the rules.
Not just because it’s their job, but also because they want us to pull through the Covid-19 pandemic together.
Unfortunately, while some people received their warnings with grace, others decided that “shooting the messenger” is a reasonable thing to do.
Slapping The Face, STOMP-ing Them
On 15 Apr 2020, NEA Enforcement Officers spotted a man eating his dabao-ed food at a hawker centre located at Blk 89 Circuit Road.
He refused to provide his particulars when asked by the officers and slapped one of them in the face when he tried to escape before police officers arrived.
Unfortunately, he’s not the only one, either.
On 14 Apr 2020, a lady (I’ll use that sparingly) was spotted not observing safety distancing when queueing up for her food and ate it at the hawker centre.
When she was approached by SG Clean ambassadors and asked to leave, she became aggressive.
She took photos and videos of the ambassadors, as well as the police officers that arrived later.
What a lady.
Don’t Shoot The Messengers Or We’ll Shoot You
Okay, NEA might not have put it that way but essentially, that’s what they meant:
“NEA takes a serious view of those who verbally or physically abuse our officers and SG Clean ambassadors,” the agency said. “We will not hesitate to take strong actions against such egregious offenders, including criminal prosecution if necessary.”
TL; DR: Try and abuse our officers and we’ll get Minister Shanmugam to send his officers to talk to you when they have time.
Every day, 3,000 enforcement officers, SG Clean and safe distancing ambassadors are deployed on the ground around Singapore.
And it’s not as though all 3,000 of them do this for a living right from the beginning.
The manpower was supplied from various Singapore agencies, including the National Library Board (NLB), the Department of Statistic (DOS), the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and more.
More Than 400 Fined In The Last Two Days
Over the past 2 days, more than 400 Singaporeans have spent half of their solidarity payout, all because they didn’t observe safe distancing.
They should’ve followed DPM Heng’s advice and donate the money if they don’t need it.
Two of them, we know, was a couple desperately sucking each other’s face.
NEA also said that they have fined 19 people at hawker centres and markets.
It seems like some people just don’t understand the concept of “ordering takeaway food to eat back at home.”
Wait, I thought we’ve been doing it all the time or was I wrong?
Take note, too, that if someone was to eat at the coffee shop, it’s not just the individuals who are in trouble.
Two patrons sat down and dined in at a canteen at 63 Jalan Pemimpin, and MEWR said that enforcement actions will be taken against both the patrons and the licensee of the canteen.
Only Enforcement Officers Have The Power To Issue Fines To People
This a sensitive time in Singapore right now, and that’s when scammers thrive.
After all, they typically try to scare people into giving them money, and posing as an enforcement officer to get $300 from gullible people isn’t that hard.
MEWR reiterates that only the police, authorised enforcement officers and safe distancing ambassadors will be allowed to issue fines to people for breaking safe distancing measures.
Previously, enforcement officers are required to wear corporate wear as identification. To make it easier to identify them (and harder for people to impersonate them), they’ve added a snazzy red armband for some of the officers.
All of them will also carry a red identification badge as well.
The enforcement officers are allowed to issue a fine to you but they will not collect the money from you right away.
So if someone were to approach you and say you need to give him $300, keep him there and call the cops on the person.
So stay home and try not to go out. If you’re really, really, bored, why not download the Goody Feed app for some light reading?
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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