Posted on 18 Nov 2009
"This crowd of 100 policemen blocked my taxi queue at Millennia Walk"
A huge crowd of off-duty police officers and their vehicles made a nuisance of themselves at Millennia Walk on Sunday (Nov 15) after an APEC event, blocking the taxi stand and frightening away cabbies there.
Here's what the STOMPer wrote on the incident:
"My mom, aunt, bro and I were waiting at the Millennia Walk taxi stand after shopping at the Harvey Norman there. We had bought an oven, so the only thing to do was to grab a cab home.
"There weren't too many cabs and the queue was long, but at least it moved. I think it was some 20 minutes before it was our turn. Shortly after the previous cab left, this huge group of police personnel emerged from Millennia Walk. It was about 8:00pm at the time.
"They were mostly in full uniform - shirts, trousers, batons, revolves and all, peaked caps in their hands. I saw a couple in the full police gear sans their tops, which they replaced with polo shirts (isn't that against the rules? Since they still have their guns, etc?). There were about 80 to 100 of them.
"We knew they were police personnel coming from the APEC event, and it was obvious that they were waiting for some pickup transport to come, but here is where the police have been no help but only brought trouble.
"For about 5 minutes they were at the taxi stand, mingling around and doing nothing, then apparently their patience wore out and they walked out towards the main road, standing right where the taxi and other vehicles would turn into Millennia Walk.
"Naturally, seeing about a hundred police officers, no taxis came in! There were a few which said empty, and some wanted to turn in, then were scared away.
"These police force people weren't very well-behaved either. They were making lots of noise, laughing and not carrying themselves well. Some were jaywalking along the road entrance to the shopping mall.
"Then two large coaches came, and we thought that would be the end of it. But the police just stood there, and didn't board the bus. In the entire half hour that the buses were there, the two huge coaches blocked the taxi/car entrance to the Millennia Walk taxi stand, so much so that even the cab we booked by phone had to drive past the building because the coaches were causing an obstruction to traffic.
It was only after I called 999 (like reporting the police to the police, really), and the operator said that she would contact the organizer to rectify the problem, did they finally board the buses and leave five minutes after my call.
"In sum, we would have gone home at least 40 minutes earlier if the police hadn't blocked the entrance and just well... made themselves a nuisance."
"This crowd of 100 policemen blocked my taxi queue at Millennia Walk"
A huge crowd of off-duty police officers and their vehicles made a nuisance of themselves at Millennia Walk on Sunday (Nov 15) after an APEC event, blocking the taxi stand and frightening away cabbies there.
Here's what the STOMPer wrote on the incident:
"My mom, aunt, bro and I were waiting at the Millennia Walk taxi stand after shopping at the Harvey Norman there. We had bought an oven, so the only thing to do was to grab a cab home.
"There weren't too many cabs and the queue was long, but at least it moved. I think it was some 20 minutes before it was our turn. Shortly after the previous cab left, this huge group of police personnel emerged from Millennia Walk. It was about 8:00pm at the time.
"They were mostly in full uniform - shirts, trousers, batons, revolves and all, peaked caps in their hands. I saw a couple in the full police gear sans their tops, which they replaced with polo shirts (isn't that against the rules? Since they still have their guns, etc?). There were about 80 to 100 of them.
"We knew they were police personnel coming from the APEC event, and it was obvious that they were waiting for some pickup transport to come, but here is where the police have been no help but only brought trouble.
"For about 5 minutes they were at the taxi stand, mingling around and doing nothing, then apparently their patience wore out and they walked out towards the main road, standing right where the taxi and other vehicles would turn into Millennia Walk.
"Naturally, seeing about a hundred police officers, no taxis came in! There were a few which said empty, and some wanted to turn in, then were scared away.
"These police force people weren't very well-behaved either. They were making lots of noise, laughing and not carrying themselves well. Some were jaywalking along the road entrance to the shopping mall.
"Then two large coaches came, and we thought that would be the end of it. But the police just stood there, and didn't board the bus. In the entire half hour that the buses were there, the two huge coaches blocked the taxi/car entrance to the Millennia Walk taxi stand, so much so that even the cab we booked by phone had to drive past the building because the coaches were causing an obstruction to traffic.
It was only after I called 999 (like reporting the police to the police, really), and the operator said that she would contact the organizer to rectify the problem, did they finally board the buses and leave five minutes after my call.
"In sum, we would have gone home at least 40 minutes earlier if the police hadn't blocked the entrance and just well... made themselves a nuisance."
