When most people are feeling stressed, their behaviours tend to turn a little ugly.
After all, there’s no time for niceties, especially not during a pandemic.
That is not to say that this kind of behaviour is excusable, but this is what a recent survey of around 1,000 security officers have found.
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The survey, which was conducted between September and November of 2020, revealed that 40% of security officers were subjected to some kind of abuse while in the line of duty.
Compare this to a previous study of around 700 officers conducted between January and February 2020, prior to the lockdowns, where only about 33% of abuse were reported.
The 7% increase was attributed to elevated tensions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the safety measures that had to be put into place.
But of course, there are also those who have always been a**holes from the very beginning. For those, the pandemic had no bearing on their behaviour.
Forward-facing security officers faced the most abuse
Understandably, when you have to interact with the public a lot more often, especially when it comes to enforcing COVID-19 rules, you’ll likely get the brunt of the abuse.
This is something that many people who work in forward-facing jobs would typically know.
According to a director of security company Horus I, Mr Francis Chng, officers who work at condos or shopping malls where contact with the public is unavoidable tend to face more abuse than their counterparts who were assigned to warehouses.
Thankfully, his clients were understanding and will take into account the officer’s side of the story when a dispute arises.
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For instance, back in December of 2020, Mr Chng received a report where an officer was loudly lambasted in public when a man thought the officer was yelling at him.
In reality, the officer was simply talking a bit louder just so the man could hear him properly through the mask.
The officer was in charge of taking the temperatures of patrons of a shopping mall at that time.
And who can forget the Taiwanese lady at Ion Orchard mall who intentionally sneezed at a security guard when she was denied entry for not wearing a mask.
Making Reporting Abuse Easier for Officers
In response to the survey that was released on March 25th, the Union of Security Employees (USE) plan to release a mobile app by the third quarter of 2021 that will allow officers to report abuse and work-related issues easily to its mediation team.
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Hopefully, with this app in place, abuse-related disputes will be drastically reduced, but of course, a little compassion for the people who are just doing their jobs goes a long way as well.
Featured Image: Heng Lim / Shutterstock.com
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