Friday, November 6, 2009
May 17, 2009. Sunday: Undercover cops?
When the day ends in Central Business District, it only just begins in Geylang. Crowds start to build around the dinner time and last all the way till the small hours of the night. When I passed through the place on my way to the city around 10pm, it was right in the middle of its peak hours. The street was crowded with cars, taxis, and pedestrians. Noisy, chaotic, razzle-dazzle, and seductive. Definitely the most vibrant nighttime playground in town, where the heart of the city beats briskly as the rest of it is asleep.
Somewhere near Lor20, I was going nose-to-nose with a blue Comfort taxi. It was one of those new, flashy, automatic Sonatas to which I had on several occasions lost my customers, due to their fast speed, swift maneuverability, and the daring drivers who never hesitate to put their own shiny butts at risk to offer a road test for the quality of the brake work of my company’s workshop by cutting in abruptly right in front of me. Because of these unpleasant experiences, I am not exactly overly fond of them. When I see one of these on the road, I don’t usually waste my second glance on it. But there was something peculiar about this one that had persuaded me to take another look.
It looked newer than most other Sonatas. In fact, I believe it was brand new. Bathed in jazzy, brilliant neon lights, every part of it shone sparklingly as if the full body was coated in mirror glass. What really caught my attention, though, were the men sitting inside.
The taxi had a “busy” light on at its rooftop, because there was a passenger sitting in the front seat next to the driver. From the way the two men carried themselves, I realized this was no ordinary taxi. This was most likely a police patrol car in a taxi’s costume.
It was really obvious to me.
First, both men looked young, probably between 20 and 30 years of age. Too young to be a taxi driver in Singapore for one of them. Secondly, they wore similar, possibly identical, type of clothes. Not the formal police uniform, but in the same navy blue color nonetheless. Thirdly, and most conspicuously, they wore same type of caps in the car! Also in a navy blue color, the cap was same as the baseball cap, with a long, curved brim. But caps like this are also commonly used by army and police personnel around the world. They are customarily referred to as “low profile caps”. I haven’t seen many ordinary people wearing them in Singapore, but I guess some will, particularly outdoor in the middle of a hot sunny day. But at night? In a car? Both a taxi driver and a passenger? Come on, that’s just impossible unless you were looking at a pair of undercover cops.
You could still argue, of course, that maybe the economy is so bad that more young people have been forced to drive taxis to make a living. Maybe this young taxi driver happens to have a brother, or a male friend, who likes to dress up the same, dull-looking way as him. And maybe they both have the same type of cap that they like so much they wear it wherever they go, even at night. But I found that too far-fetched to be plausible.
I bet a full month of my taxi rental that these men were undercover vice cops. They were on an assignment right now to sniff around for illegal prostitution activities in this area, which had become quite rampant in recent times. They didn’t seem to realize, however, that they were so ludicrously obvious. Their proud “low profile cap” had in fact given them a very high profile, and blown their cover wide open.
In agreement with my theory, the men were scanning the street from one side to another with their apparently alert and vigilant eyes hidden under the cover of their caps, while moving slowly at my side. After going like this for a while, the Sonata suddenly picked up speed, made several swift maneuvers to push itself through the heavy traffic, and soon disappeared without a trace.
Since all government-owned vehicles in Singapore, including police cars, bear special classes of license plate, the police in Singapore, unlike other countries, may not have their own unmarked vehicles for stakeout or undercover assignments. In a country where the buzzwords are “low crime doesn’t mean no crime”, I guess occasional undercover police operations are still required. Using a taxi for this purpose is therefore a logical as well as smart idea. Assuming the taxi was rented from Comfort, which is also owned by the government, does the policeman who drives it have a taxi driver’s license? Is it legal for them to drive a taxi if they don’t?
At any rate, if I was right, then these young policemen were too amateur. They should at least take off their caps, which they should know will render them seriously under-covered. With all these lavish camouflage, the brand new taxi and all, I couldn’t help but to wonder what was the point.
Posted by Mingjie Cai at 1:26 PM 23 comments Links to this post
May 17, 2009. Sunday: Undercover cops?
When the day ends in Central Business District, it only just begins in Geylang. Crowds start to build around the dinner time and last all the way till the small hours of the night. When I passed through the place on my way to the city around 10pm, it was right in the middle of its peak hours. The street was crowded with cars, taxis, and pedestrians. Noisy, chaotic, razzle-dazzle, and seductive. Definitely the most vibrant nighttime playground in town, where the heart of the city beats briskly as the rest of it is asleep.
Somewhere near Lor20, I was going nose-to-nose with a blue Comfort taxi. It was one of those new, flashy, automatic Sonatas to which I had on several occasions lost my customers, due to their fast speed, swift maneuverability, and the daring drivers who never hesitate to put their own shiny butts at risk to offer a road test for the quality of the brake work of my company’s workshop by cutting in abruptly right in front of me. Because of these unpleasant experiences, I am not exactly overly fond of them. When I see one of these on the road, I don’t usually waste my second glance on it. But there was something peculiar about this one that had persuaded me to take another look.
It looked newer than most other Sonatas. In fact, I believe it was brand new. Bathed in jazzy, brilliant neon lights, every part of it shone sparklingly as if the full body was coated in mirror glass. What really caught my attention, though, were the men sitting inside.
The taxi had a “busy” light on at its rooftop, because there was a passenger sitting in the front seat next to the driver. From the way the two men carried themselves, I realized this was no ordinary taxi. This was most likely a police patrol car in a taxi’s costume.
It was really obvious to me.
First, both men looked young, probably between 20 and 30 years of age. Too young to be a taxi driver in Singapore for one of them. Secondly, they wore similar, possibly identical, type of clothes. Not the formal police uniform, but in the same navy blue color nonetheless. Thirdly, and most conspicuously, they wore same type of caps in the car! Also in a navy blue color, the cap was same as the baseball cap, with a long, curved brim. But caps like this are also commonly used by army and police personnel around the world. They are customarily referred to as “low profile caps”. I haven’t seen many ordinary people wearing them in Singapore, but I guess some will, particularly outdoor in the middle of a hot sunny day. But at night? In a car? Both a taxi driver and a passenger? Come on, that’s just impossible unless you were looking at a pair of undercover cops.
You could still argue, of course, that maybe the economy is so bad that more young people have been forced to drive taxis to make a living. Maybe this young taxi driver happens to have a brother, or a male friend, who likes to dress up the same, dull-looking way as him. And maybe they both have the same type of cap that they like so much they wear it wherever they go, even at night. But I found that too far-fetched to be plausible.
I bet a full month of my taxi rental that these men were undercover vice cops. They were on an assignment right now to sniff around for illegal prostitution activities in this area, which had become quite rampant in recent times. They didn’t seem to realize, however, that they were so ludicrously obvious. Their proud “low profile cap” had in fact given them a very high profile, and blown their cover wide open.
In agreement with my theory, the men were scanning the street from one side to another with their apparently alert and vigilant eyes hidden under the cover of their caps, while moving slowly at my side. After going like this for a while, the Sonata suddenly picked up speed, made several swift maneuvers to push itself through the heavy traffic, and soon disappeared without a trace.
Since all government-owned vehicles in Singapore, including police cars, bear special classes of license plate, the police in Singapore, unlike other countries, may not have their own unmarked vehicles for stakeout or undercover assignments. In a country where the buzzwords are “low crime doesn’t mean no crime”, I guess occasional undercover police operations are still required. Using a taxi for this purpose is therefore a logical as well as smart idea. Assuming the taxi was rented from Comfort, which is also owned by the government, does the policeman who drives it have a taxi driver’s license? Is it legal for them to drive a taxi if they don’t?
At any rate, if I was right, then these young policemen were too amateur. They should at least take off their caps, which they should know will render them seriously under-covered. With all these lavish camouflage, the brand new taxi and all, I couldn’t help but to wonder what was the point.
Posted by Mingjie Cai at 1:26 PM 23 comments Links to this post
