Well said.... Then first of all may i ask why no one here is praising the SOC since they were the one that brought the situation under control??? Instead all we can see is criticism for the way how the police retreated....
I do not fancy SGP police honestly, they are nothing compare to other countries police becoz Singaporeans are a easy bunch of citizens to handle unlike citizens from HK, Taiwan, China or even UK... But let's do the criticism with facts...
If the one that is running away is your son or your family members, would you still be saying that they are a coward or the way they retreated is unacceptable??? Safety first!!!
1. You expect 10 policemen to form a line to go against 400 drunks Indian without any rioting gear??? Even if the 10 policemen are able to charge into the crowd, what if they are being attacked from behind by beer bottles n so on???
Even PTU or SOC are trained to back up one another.... When the first platoon moves in, the 2nd platoon will wait behind in case of any attacks from behind.
According to what you say, the 10 policemen forms a line n charge at the rioters, who's is their back-up??? Even if the 10 policemen load their revolver full of ammo, there's only 60 bullets in all but the rioters numbers are 400. Before the 10 policemen can kill or arrest all of them, they would be killed from behind not forgetting that the riot is due to their own ppl behind killed. If the policemen start to fire shots n injured anymore of their own country ppl, what's the consequences did you ever think...
2. If you have not put yourself in the shoes of the policemen, then isn't it a bit too much just to put your own views n criticism in there when you're not actually on the actual scene itself.
3. Even commandos, rangers n navy seal works as a team. Rambo action are not welcomed in any uniformed group. If just becoz of one's Hero action that causes injury or death to your buddy that is on duty together with you, who's going to bear the responsibility??? You???
Shirking duties is running away without having any follow up actions. Even during academy training be it SGP police or HKG police, they are taught to call reinforcement once they are being out-numbered.
Even Navy Seals are trained to analyst situation n call for back up if necessary.
To be honest, even if you put a section of 7 person from the Commandos or Swat team at Little India that night, I doubt they will moved in....
To criticize is easy.... But if you're the one at the scene i can imagine you'll fled faster than anyone else....
A mob is not smart, a mob is only brave when they have the numbers in it. We are not dealing with a well-organised organisation intent on making war with the government, we are dealing with construction workers on their off day after having a feel drinks, who felt compelled to show their inner unhappiness after one of their compatriots died in a very ugly manner.
If your daughter or your family members were at the mob's mercy while the SPF decided to tactically retreat, would you still say retreat is acceptable and safety first?
1) They were equipped with rioting shields in their car and batons are standard issue. What more do you need, tear gas and rubber bullets? They could have charged, but if they were unable to do so, they could have stood their ground to show that they will mantain law and order. As we all can see from the pictures, they stood their ground, at least a good hundred of metres away from their vehicles.
2) So we should keep our mouth shut because we are not policemen so we have no place to talk? So next time if the police beat someone up, we also cannot say anything because we were not present? If I put myself in the shoes of the policemen, I will feel ashamed, because they cannot live up to the ethoes of the SPF.
3) I do not see the need to invoke comparison with elite military forces which has absolutely no connection to the matters at hand. This is a domestic issue, it should be compared with other police forces, not the top commando teams in the world. Furthermore, the commandos you mention are well-trained and have different rules of engagement, so your comparison doesn't make sense.
Nobody asked them to be rambo, we only asked them to stand their ground to show they were able to protect lives and property in the vicinity. Sadly, that was not the case, the ran so far away that the ah neh were uninpeded from burning ambulances and police cars.
I believe what they were taught in academy was find cover and call reinforcements, not run away to find cover, even beyond the effective range of their guns as the police have explained to us.
To run is easy, anybody can run, you can run, I can run, you tell me other than the wheel-chair bound, who cannot run? If all we needed we runners, why do we even need the police force, when any man on the street will do.