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Solace of the Shadows
Thursday, April 29, 2004
These past few days have been absolute chaos. Or rather, the past 2 weeks. 3 seperate incidents, two of which happened within my division. Today was the industrial accident at Ayer Rajah. Just opposite Fairfield Secondary. Such familiar grounds. Yet the sight of the place today was completely alien.
Alot of rumours flying around, but no it has nothing to do with the circle line mrt. It was an industrial accident of its own, within a building being constructed. One of the huge steel beams collapsed, and caused the tidal wave of confusion to ensue.
The moment we got back from lunch i recieved a call from my colleague telling us to be on standby without explanation of what was happening. Everyone in the station was rushing around. Slowly bits and peices of news filtered and trickled in and shortly we were activated to go down to the scene to join the first tier of officers already there.
When we got down from the bus the place was simply in complete chaos. The road leading into Ayer Rajah Avenue was closed and there was a huge crowd gathered around the area. But it was pretty impressive the way the command post and cordoned area had been set up so quickly. The police and civil defence really responded the quickest way possible.
We got deployed to do traffic and crowd control for a while before i went in to the relatives holding area. Relatives of one of the deceased were coming out of the holding area and walking towards the site where the steel structure had collapsed, accompanied by all the Heads from our division. Then, one completely moronic photographer decided to snap a photo of the wife of the deceased, and it totally incurred the anger of the son who lashed out at the photographer, wanting to beat the heck out of him which was completely understandable. The guy showed totally no respect for the privacy of the deceased. It was a horrible sight. The son was screaming vulgarities here and there, but who could blame him. No one would've been able to understand how they felt. I felt really bad for them, but what good would that have done. It was a tragedy. One death is a death too many.
Members of public can be so difficult to handle. While doing crowd control, some of them would randomly ask if they could enter past the cordon tape, and when i denied them entry they would proceed to ask WHY. WHY?! Is that a rhetorical question? Firstly, the more people entering the scene would mean a more chaotic atmosphere, and if they were just going for a look see that wouldn't help in any way at all. Secondly, its for their own damned safety. What if something unexpected were to happen? Who would be liable for their injuries? Who let them in? Then there were the morons who grumbled about not being able to enter the road because it would inconvenience them. Like what the hell? As if we cordon the area to inconvenience people? Inside, countless numbers of men are attempting to stabilize the scene and rescue anyone trapped inside and here you are bitching about not being able to use the damned road just for one friggin day? What if it were your relative in there? How would you feel? Singaporeans can be incredibly fucked up.
The most irritating bunch of morons who tried to enter the area were these ACJC students who approached me.
ACJ moron : Hi, whats happening here? Can we enter?
Me : I'm sorry, you can't, unless you work here or have a relevant purpose to be in the area.
ACJ moron : oh, so we can't just come in and see? whats happening ah?
Me : err, no obviously not. and as for whats happening, i suggest you read tomorrows papers.
ACJ moron : oh issit? tomorrows papers? (sarcastic look) ok then. (goes over to his other bunch of moronic pals and clowns around like the whole scene is a joke)
IF THAT ACJ MORON HAPPENS TO READ THIS. IF I WEREN'T IN UNIFORM, I'D KICK YOUR ASS. YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO AC. FULLSTOP.
There's so many other things running through my head today.
I can't possibly imagine the feeling of losing someone you love that way, so sudden and so tragically. All the things you would've wanted to say but didn't get the chance to. Just unimaginable.
What is happening nowadays, so many cases. Everything's spinning out of control. Everytime i pray it doesn't involve the ones i love.
Saturday, April 17, 2004
This past week has been one of indescribable ambivalence. Experienced both highs and lows from one side of the spectrum to the other. I've realized no matter how much theory and knowledge you may have to back you up, it will never prepare you for the atrocities of the working world. No matter how competent you may be, or how much you try and cover all the areas as possible, there will be factors which bring your down, even though they may be of no fault of your own entirely.
The higher up the ranks you are, the easier it is for you to filter the blame down to those who do not deserve it. The easier it is to point the finger at someone else, the easier it is to deny, the easier it is to assign duties to others which belong to you. I am thoroughly disgusted at certain individuals, and i'm thinking it must be the same this way in all organizations, because if it happens here, heck it should happen everywhere. And it sucks. Big time.
I've also come to realize certain things which may seem extremely biased but is also unsettlingly true. How some people will do anything just to save face and denounce their incompetency in a heartbeat. Who have no guts to take the consequences of what they have done, and instead push it to the person they had to rely on beforehand. Not only did i have to take most of the blame for my friggin boss, she had the cheek to tell me off and correct me on what i (SHE) should have done in an email. This statement was of course entangled in a mass of other instructions (which i had already fulfilled duly before the meeting) in an attempt to alleviate her guilt.
I inadvertently allowed this to affect me, this being the first time i have encountered such a situation. It was comparable to the feeling of failing a major exam, seeing something you planned so carefully crumble with such ease because a single brick had not been laid. I am grateful, however, for a friend and station mate who talked the sense into me and made me realize such events will invariably happen during work life and there are numerous bosses who are deluded by their own incompetency to realize that the rank they carry is ill-proportioned to the responsibility they shoulder. Working life is like a hell of its own. However, there are some things (or some people) which make it bearable.
I guess thats all i needed to unload so far. In other matters, after weeks of anticipation, Thailand trip countdown is in 5 days. I need to escape from work. Recommendations on where to visit would be welcome.
Friday, April 02, 2004
Tonight was one heck of a night.
I went for an Operation tonight along with two of my station mates conducted by Echo Division, which meant we would eventually be dealing with areas around town. All along we had no idea what the operation was about, in order to maintain ops secrecy and prevent knowledge of it being leaked out before the ops was carried out. Even when we arrived at Echo HQ we still had no idea where we were going but we knew it was going to be a raid.
So we loaded up the vans and drove to Clarke Quay to hit the first spot, which was Jamz the Club. It was one heck of an experience, a whole mass of officers in plainclothes and police jackets descending upon the club. The music was stopped and the lights were turned on.
It was incredibly weird walking around the club staring the patrons down (mostly because i could've been one of them). They conducted selected checks on suspicious looking individuals but unfortunately (or fortunately) found nothing substantial for arrest. My group's role was to escort any accused which may have been identified. But i just went around snapping photos heh.
Our next spot was Club III at MS. I think the club itself was simply horrible. It looked like a friggin squatter settlement inside, housing a bunch of Chinese morons. Quite a few individuals were dragged outside and dealt with. The guys from SSB were damn good at handling them. I wouldn't wanna mess around with them. Ah bengs with tattoos all over simply responded meekly when being interrogated by the officers. They made one guy take off his shirt and spent 10 mins inspecting his tattoos and shouting at his face.
The most irritating thing was when all of us were about to stand down and leave the club, the moment the music was turned back on, the MORONS in the club started their friggin gang cheer. I thought it was really pathetic, they only know strength in numbers and how to hide behind a damned wall so nobody can see who it was, but once the SSB guys hammered on the door for the management to open up the club again and stop the music, all the bloody ah bengs just shut their traps up. Totally cannot make it. Cowards to the max.
When we finally left Club III we visited Angel Reborn (how the hell do they keep coming up with dumb names like these??) and left shortly after. While walking across the road to get back to our vehicles, i saw this Cheena dumbass driving his car recklessly almost hitting down one of the officers (we were all in plainclothes). The officer proceeded to fuck the guy upside down, and soon a bunch of them swarmed around the car. Probably scared the shit out of him. It was pretty amusing. The guy totally deserved it.
The last club we hit was when we went back to Clarke Quay to enter Club VIP, which is mostly frequented by Indians. So basically we covered all the racial groups. Jamz the club (Mats), Club III (Cheena bengs), Club VIP (Indians). Out of the 3, i would have to say Club III contained the most irritating and dumbass people of the lot. Actually Jamz and VIP were pretty good heh.
It was too bad that we didn't manage to arrest anyone for possession of drugs or the sort. While in Club VIP, one of the patrons came up to shake my station mate's hand to tell him that he was happy to see that the police were doing their job. It was kinda funny but it was nice to come across people appreciating it for a change.
People get irritated by such checks but when bloody riots or drug pushers make their way into the picture they complain about police not doing anything about it. Bunch of hypocrites. Going clubbing to fight is just plain stupid.
Well, that was it very briefly. As i said it was one heck of an experience i won't forget. I haven't slept for more than 3 hours these past 2 days so i shall now proceed to sleep in the comfort of my office where i am right now. Take care folks.
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