Incidents where Police Have Been Challenged by Disorderly Member of Public

The following question stood in the name of Miss Cheng Li Hui –

To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) how many incidents have there been in the past two years of uniformed police being challenged by a disorderly member of the public; (b) in how many of these cases was additional back-up deployed; and (c) how does the Ministry ensure Police personnel are physically and mentally prepared to handle face-to-face conflicts.

Mr Deputy Speaker, between 2019 and 2020, there were more than 400 reported cases of Police officers who faced verbal abuse or physical hurt while carrying out their duties. These include incidents where officers were challenged by disorderly members of the public.

We do not track the number of cases where back-up officers were deployed. Depending on the situation, additional resources may be despatched to reinforce the on-scene officers to arrest the criminals, maintain peace and protect lives.

Police officers are trained in a range of techniques to handle dynamic and unpredictable threats that they may encounter, including face-to-face conflicts. These include the use of verbal command, unarmed tactics, batons, tasers and firearms. The Police officers will evaluate the threat posed and take an appropriate course of action against the aggressor, taking into consideration public safety and their own safety and the aggressor’s safety as well.

Thank you, Deputy Speaker, Sir. I have just one clarification. On protection for our uniformed Police officers, is there any special recourse or compensation for them, in the event that they get hurt in the course of the disorderly conduct by a member of the public?

I thank the Member for the question. Our Police officers are trained to deal with different situations. Different circumstances may present obvious risks to the Police officers in terms of injuries. When they are injured in the course of their duty, which can happen from time to time, they would be taken care of by the Police in terms of the medical as well as personal recourse, in terms of how they are being taken care of in the Police Force. More importantly, we will also continue to support them in their duties which is what they signed up for. They always put the safety of the members of the public first, in the course of their duty.