Police Investigating Viral Video of Men Abusing Safe Distancing Officer Due to New COVID-19 Measures

Singapore and Safe Distancing clearly have strong diplomatic ties. Why would there be so many ambassadors from that country otherwise?

And when an ambassador is attacked, you are in some serious trouble.

Police Investigating Verbal Abuse of Public Servant

A trending video on Sunday (9 May) showed just that: a late night confrontation at Lau Pa Sat that turned into verbal attacks against a safe distancing ambassador just trying to do his job.

Congrats. Now you abused a public servant in addition to violating safe distancing rules.

The group of people involved in the altercation gathered in a group of greater than five, which contravened the recently tightened social distancing measures, according to The Straits Times.

The safe distancing enforcement officer dutifully appeared to let them know their gathering wasn’t allowed. 

But rather than dutifully listening to him and dutifully dispersing, the group decided to undutifully retaliate, because that is certainly the best way to make someone’s life easier on a late night shift at a crowded food centre.

Someone shouted “who are you to ask me to listen to you?” at the officer, while another accused that “[he didn’t] make sense at all”.

Well, tell that to the Singapore Government.

The enforcement officer was forced to back off under the tirade, standing with other social distancing ambassadors while the group continued their harassment. 

A video of the incident was recorded and posted on a Facebook group called “COMPLAINT SINGAPORE”, with the caption “Phase 2 many cases will come again”.

Well, how well these people complied with safe distancing rules certainly hasn’t been promising.

Safe Distancing Officers Don’t Have It Easy

Yeah, they really don’t. They are paid $12 an hour—only slightly more than a Goody Feed writer—to do the thankless job of telling people off, and are too often threatened verbally or even physically.

Last June, a 30-year-old man assaulted two safe distancing ambassadors at Compass One while they were explaining social distancing rules to some food delivery riders, according to The Straits Times.

He wasn’t even a part of the group being explained to. Just a random passer-by who decided 12 June 2020 was a good day to push someone for no reason. 

Last April also saw a 39-year-old hitting a safe distancing ambassador’s hand with enough force to dislodge her phone, before fleeing the scene in Hougang. 

These cases are just parts of the wider trend that safe distancing ambassadors are particularly prone to abuse. The Straits Times reports that 12 police reports had been filed for related offenses merely a week after the position was first established on 7 April last year.

The offence of voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from doing their duty can result in up to seven years in prison, a fine, or caning.

Feature Image: Facebook (Max Mamba)