In a classic case of misunderstanding, one man spoke too soon when he pointed an accusing finger at a police officer whom he thought had parked illegally at River Valley to buy prata. But as it turned out, the policeman was simply there attending to an urgent case of public nuisance, according to the Singapore Police Force.
Facebook user Cinorom Elicebmi had posted four photos of a police car parked next to a parking enforcement camera and two videos of an officer standing by the row of shop houses, claiming that the police officer had parked illegally near popular eatery Spize at 409 River Valley Road on Friday night (Sept 1).
According to The Straits Times, the netizen’s post, which no longer grants public access, said: “Share if you think Singapore Police Force is not above the laws… LTA has painted lamp posts and sign posts within closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitoring zones with bright orange vertical strips”. Bet he was thinking that he was doing a bit of public service by complaining about it.
“In tandem, ‘No Waiting’ signs at passenger pick-up points with CCTV cameras are installed to remind we motorists that we ‘commoners’ are not allowed to wait at these pick-up locations other than immediate boarding and alighting of passengers,” he continued. “Today, this police officer blatantly (flouted) the above rule to do what? Buy roti prata!”
The police responded to another Facebook user, who shared the post to the Singapore Police Force’s page on Saturday morning (Sept 2), saying that the officers in question were actually attending to an “urgent case reported at 421 River Valley Road and had to quickly reach the incident location.”
They also told the public “not to spread unsubstantiated information”. According to ST, police officers responding to cases are granted permission to park their vehicles where required.
So basically, no prata was involved in the case.