National Service changes public perception of police force: Pioneers
Albert Lee (left) and Rajoo Gopal, who were in the second and first batch of part-time NSmen of the Singapore Police Force, respectively, standing next to a 1976 to 1994 era Police uniform at the Home Team Show and Festival, on May 5, 2017. Photo: Robin Choo/TODAY
SINGAPORE — National Service (NS) helped to change the way the public viewed the police force, said Mr Rajoo Gopal, who enlisted in the first batch of part-time police national servicemen in 1968.
“Enlistment of children in NS changed everything. It bridged the gap (between the police and people). People slowly began to understand the police better,” said the 68-year-old retired assistant commissioner of police in an interview on Friday (May 5).
Echoing Mr Rajoo’s sentiments, Mr Albert Lee, who also enlisted part-time in the police force in 1968, noted that the public perception of the police force had changed vastly over the years.
“Before enlisting, I heard a lot about the police being corrupted, skiving… those days, policemen were more rough,” Mr Lee, 67, recalled.
Mr Rajoo and Mr Lee are among 10 pioneer national servicemen who will mingle with President Tony Tan on Saturday at the Home Team Show and Festival, a tribute event for Home Team officers past and present, held at the Singapore Sports Hub.
As a part-time police national serviceman, Mr Rajoo not only took classroom lessons on the law, but also patrolled the streets in an anti-riot vehicle, breaking up gang meetings or rowdy crowds outside, for instance, the football stadium.
“When people saw the red van coming, it would instill fear,” he said.
After his NS stint, Mr Rajoo built a career in the police force, serving seven years in the Traffic Police and rising to the post of commander, among other divisions.
As for Mr Lee, who was in the second batch of national servicemen who were posted to the force as part-time policemen, he took 12 years to complete his NS.
He reported for duty twice a week, and helped out in the family business, a stationery shop, the rest of the time.
During his NS days, Mr Lee recalled managing the crowd during the Robinson’s Department Store fire at Raffles Place in 1972, and nabbing a thief in a sting operation in the 1970s.
Mr Lee became involved in the operation after goods that had been delivered to a department store went missing. Sometime later, the police received a tip-off that some of these goods, calculators, were being sold.
Mr Lee posed as a buyer and negotiated a S$30,000 deal for the calculators. He met the thief later in the day, and once the money changed hands, the police swooped in and arrested the thief.
“At that time, I was not scared. I thought there was back-up (although there wasn’t), so I went in like a hero… I was helping my brother with the stationery business then, so I gave (the thief) my business card,” Mr Lee said of the sting operation.
The five-day festival, which ends on Sunday (May 7), is held at the area around the Singapore Sports Hub.
Activities for visitors included firing weapons such as a sub-machine gun, taking a ride on Home Team vessels along the Marina Reservoir and Marina Barrage, and watching high-speed manoeuvre demonstrations at the reservoir.
