TL;DR – We stand with our men and women in blue.
The police raided a brothel near popular supper spot, Swee Choon Tim Sum, on Friday Dec 8.
An activist by the name of Vanessa Ho who’s with Project X, a volunteer outreach group for sex workers’ rights, had supposedly witnessed the raid and filmed the operations. She then uploaded the videos on Facebook criticising the way the police conducted the operation.
The post suggested that the police was wrong to use battering rams, sledgehammers, circular saws, and wearing balaclavas. She has since removed the two Facebook posts she’d made on this episode. Here’s one of three videos from Ho that has been re-uploaded online.
The lady also accused the police of thinking of their own safety but not the sex workers. Is it just me, or was this dripping with self-righteousness?
“This is what your taxpayers money are put to: groups of armed men terrorizing women.”
Eh. Lady. Hello. The police were doing their jobs. Keeping Singapore safe.
Minister K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Law, made two Facebook posts in support of the actions of the police.
What prompted the raid?
Minister Shanmugam revealed that there “had been complaints about sex workers in the area. There seemed to be a syndicate in operation.”
The police then observed the place. The observations showed that there were lookouts deployed. Some of the sex workers also appeared young. As such, the police had reasons to be concerned that a syndicate was exploiting underage youngsters. That’s why they decided to take action and raid the place.
Why use so much force?
Should the police have used that much force? Well… duh. The doors were locked. The syndicate had posted lookouts. What do do you think? You mean the police were supposed to knock gently and ask the occupants politely to open the door? Do you think that will work? The place is operated by a syndicate. Which is actually another word for gang. Gangsters don’t play nice. They understand one thing. Force.
That’s why the police had to act fast, hit hard. Otherwise, the gangsters would have gotten away to start another brothel in another HDB estate. Is that what the lady wants? As it is, there appears to be a worrying trend of increasing number of brothels being set up in HDB estates.
If the police doesn’t take action in the way they did, what do you think will happen? More of such brothels will spring up in HDB heartlands. Sex workers to continue soliciting for customers along the roads and bringing them into HDB estates among our families and children. Is that what that lady wants?
Police officers risk their lives for you and me
And does the lady not know that the police officers who carry out such raids are putting their lives at risk? Those police officers wear masks during such raids because, as Minister Shanmugam highlighted, “criminal gangs could go for them, if their identities are known. Illegal brothels are often run by criminal syndicates. It’s big business. The men behind it will retaliate, if they can”.
So by making such unjustified attacks on the police, the lady is doing a great disservice to these officers who put their lives at risk to keep us safe and Singapore secure. What’s more, as Minister Shanmugam pointed out, “unjustified attacks on Police (in other countries) have eventually led to the weakening of law enforcement”.
That’s why all of us should speak out against the sort of unjustified attacks that the lady made against our police force. It is thanks largely to them that we are the second safest city in the world.
So, SPF, thanks for keeping us safe and Singapore secure. Don’t let comments like those made by that lady get to you. Keep up the good work!
(Featured image via SPF)
