If you’ve ever had the notion to dial 999 — and we’re big fans in actual emergency situations — it’s probably worth deciding ahead of time if it’s really worth the police department’s time. Case in point: this woman (the one we’re about to tell you about).
In a now-viral video, a so-far unidentified Singaporean woman who called for help — only to call back and cancel the request later — decided to record herself dressing down two police officers who showed up to check things out.
The clip, which already has nearly 100,000 views, shows the browbeating in progress at a lift landing of an HDB public housing building, a confrontation she continues onto the lift and all the way to their car, demanding to know why one of the officers had allegedly taken her phone, and insisting she speak to his superior. Remember, she called them.
The two-minute clip was uploaded to Facebook on Sunday by a user known as Rick Yee, followed by several other pages since last night. We’re not embedding the video given that we’re not looking to thrust the police in the spotlight, but … you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding it.
We’ve watched it a couple of times now and, honestly, still have plenty of questions. For one thing, nothing in the video gives away why she initially called the cops in the first place, nor does the recording shows exactly how the alleged phone-grabbing went down.
Comments made by the male officer in the video, however, suggest he took her phone away because she refused to stop recording them.
“I tell you to stop (video) recording, you still want to record, then what do you want me to do?” he can be heard saying. (Editor: It’s not actually illegal to record police in Singapore.)
When the woman demanded she speak to his ASP, or assistant superintendent, the male officer said: “You call 999, go and make a complaint, they will tell you what to do. I got no ASP or whatever to handle all these kinds of things with you, so please.”
Clearly pissed off, the officers headed into the lift to leave, only for the woman to follow them inside with her phone still recording.
In the lift, she demanded to know why they had come down to see her even though she had already called to cancel her request for help, to which the exasperated male officer explained that they were simply doing their job.
“The (police) hotline asked me to continue to come and verify even though you called and canceled because we want to ensure that really nothing happened, understand?”
But that answer wasn’t enough to make the woman quit recording. She then went on to follow them as the officers walked towards their car and finally drove off.
Not surprisingly, the woman is being criticized by netizens for wasting time and resources.
Related story:
This guy jaywalked (while on the phone) right into the welcome embrace of the traffic police
