A man has landed himself with a year in prison after leading a double life for more than a decade. Umar Hassan both enforced the law in his day job as a police officer and violated the rules as a member of two illegal secret societies.
The 38-year-old served as a senior staff sergeant for 18 years in Singapore Police Force’s Ang Mo Kio Division, spending 16 of those years as a high ranking member of the gangs in his spare time, Channel NewsAsia reported.
While we’re genuinely impressed that the guy was able to hold down two jobs, we wish someone had told him these are two jobs that you just cannot have at the same time.
Prior to joining the police force in 1999, Umar had been a member of an unnamed infamous secret society known for its history in armed robbery and kidnappings.
But he just could not stay away from the dark side for long. In 2001, he started his own motorcycle gang and in 2007, he returned to his original gang as a senior member as well — all while still serving on the police force. In October 2008, Umar decided to work smart not hard — in his secret society at least — brokering an arrangement to affiliate his motorcycle gang with the secret society he was already a veteran of.
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Throughout his tenure in the criminal world, Umar never quit his day job. He continued cashing his paychecks from the Singapore Police Force (SPF), and show up to the office supposedly trying to improve safety in the streets.
He got away with it all until November 2016, when police tied him to a viral video clip which showed a group of men chanting gang slogans at a wedding, according to a report from The Straits Times.
When his Facebook page, laptop, and mobile phones were later found to contain pictures of him displaying a hand sign implicating him as a secret society member, he was suspended from service.
Double life, double damage
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced yesterday. District Judge Jasvender Kaur had little sympathy for Umar.
“It is bad enough when an ordinary citizen joins a secret society,” said Judge Kaur. “Here, the accused was not an ordinary citizen. He was a serving police officer when he rejoined and professed membership as a senior gang member (of the first gang) and affiliated (the second gang) with it.”
As for the damage his double life has done to the public’s trust of the police:
“Nothing could be better calculated to undermine regard for the integrity of the Singapore Police Force than one of its members being a senior member of a secret society and a headman of a gang affiliated with it,” Judge Jasvender said.
In addition to being prosecuted in court, the SPF carried out their own investigation into whether Umar abused his position while employed as a policeman, The Straits Times reported.
“We also thoroughly examined the information which he had access to and whether he had used it in a manner prejudicial to the Singapore Police Force, and law and order,” said a spokesperson for the SPF. “Based on our investigations so far, there is no indication of such abuse.”
As for the SPF, it has since reviewed its screening processes for future police officers.
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