Are Police Officers underpaid?
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The counselling is not done officially, because after all, not all coppers are officially counsellor-trained. And you're wrong: they DO refer cases to the relevant agencies. Files will be put up, and the nearest Family Service Centre/Community Mediation Centre etc will be informed accordingly, and then they will followup on the cases.Originally posted by BillyBong:I beg to differ.
Item (iii) (and therefore (iv)) have been outsourced to approved govt bodies; they do not provide such counselling services other than short-term trauma reviews directly caused by a criminal case.
Item (vi) is for their own good; knowledge of the land and its shortcuts can only help a policeman during a chase, lest they want the bad guys to outfox them.
For (vii), the only people who feel their protection are high-profile ministers and dignitaries, especially during 'convoy' movement.
Item (ii) is something i agree that should be removed from their job scope.
Everything else that you mentioned should fall under their list of roles and responsibilities, and then some.
But it's heartening to know that you agree with the removal of (ii). This one the trained pros like the Zoo personnel should do. Or pest control maybe.
And actually, address changing, birth/death registration, etc is the primary responsibility of the ICA, not Police. -
Nowadays, many duties of the police has been passed on to citizens and the police ends up with practically little or nothing to do really.Originally posted by Tiggerific:Well said, interesting viewpoint you have there. Now, they also:
i) Clear the roads of fallen trees & debris,
ii) Catch dangerous animals,
iii) Provide counselling services to wayward teens and broken families,
iv) Provide referrals for the abovementioned groups,
v) Register births and deaths,
vi) Are virtually living street directories,
vii) Personalized bodyguards,
viii) Provide first aid and healthcare,
viiii) Record affidavits for civil cases [macam lawyer]
And there are still some other tasks which have not been mentioned yet.
All of which, if you were to pay them accordingly to the professions that do the abovementioned tasks, would definitely mean only one thing: That they are indeed under-paid.
Overworked, underpaid and unappreciated.
Yet their salaries keep going up year after year in the name of retaining talents reaching S$300,000.00 pa excluding bonuses for the senior policeman.
For example, in the past many municipal duties like security patrolling were carried out everywhere by the police. Now police is excused from patrolling private estates who is expected to employ their own security guards and when there is a crime the security firms could lose their licence.
Similarly all the fire safety duties and alterations and additions and electrical and work site safety controls were passed to the citizens and even checking on and application for public entertainment licensing within private housing estates have been transferred to the various management corporations whose staff could be fined for failing to perform certain duties.
Immigration check to prevent entries of illegal immigrants were passed on to private landlords who may be fined or jailed for renting out flats to illegal immigrants when traditionally policemen were responsible to check on them through the check points and other hideouts.
When prostitution activities spread to the housing estates or orchard road the policemen were able to quickly push away such duties to the landlords or tenants instead of making themselves answerable for failures in their duties.
Mosquito breeding caused by lack of proper treatments of public drains were not passed to the flat owners as officers' failures to perform checks were spared whereas flat owners could be heavily fined.
Housing board has transferred their responsibilities for defective construction to flat purchasers who could be fined or jailed for any incidents of window dropping.
Just imagine by doing less and lesser all our policemen and ministers are being paid more and more and are still claiming they are not paid enough and asking to be paid higher than the S$300,000.00 pa for sitting around and trying to cater to passers-by enquiries which they call successful policing which deserves more pay rise. -
I agree with you on this one. You might not know this, but the massive pay rises only affects the senior officers [ie inspector, asp and above], scholars and their ilk. The typical frontliners get much, much lesser. A pittance of 'few tens of dollars', as put by one forumite in another thread.Originally posted by robertteh:Nowadays, many duties of the police has been passed on to citizens and the police ends up with practically little or nothing to do really.
Yet their salaries keep going up year after year in the name of retaining talents reaching S$300,000.00 pa excluding bonuses for the senior policeman.
That's where you're very, very wrong. They do conduct patrols at private estates, regardless of whether there are security personnel employed or otherwise.
For example, in the past many municipal duties like security patrolling were carried out everywhere by the police. Now police is excused from patrolling private estates who is expected to employ their own security guards and when there is a crime the security firms could lose their licence.
Shouldn't civil defence come into the picture for fire safety matters? Anyway, application for public entertainment licenses is gone through police for people living in hdb estates. For private estates... The management of the said estates would act like what town council is doing for hdb estates. So naturally things which involve permits like entertainment licences, permits for renovations will go through the estate management anyway.
Similarly all the fire safety duties and alterations and additions and electrical and work site safety controls were passed to the citizens and even checking on and application for public entertainment licensing within private housing estates have been transferred to the various management corporations whose staff could be fined for failing to perform certain duties.
There is a reason why ICA is set up, to specialise in such matters. However, having said that, you will be surprised to know that the Police are the ones doing the bulk of these Immigration Act-related offences.
Immigration check to prevent entries of illegal immigrants were passed on to private landlords who may be fined or jailed for renting out flats to illegal immigrants when traditionally policemen were responsible to check on them through the check points and other hideouts.
This one is under jurisdiction of NEA. However, if need be, Police can also take charge of the situation. However, the only thing they can do is to obtain the particulars of the offender, and the details of the offence. After that, they can only forward the information to NEA, who will then conduct their own investigations and process the punishment meted out.
Mosquito breeding caused by lack of proper treatments of public drains were not passed to the flat owners as officers' failures to perform checks were spared whereas flat owners could be heavily fined.
Police involvement could be because of the circumstances of the case indicate that there is enough grounds to charge the person for an ofence of rash act, or negligence which allowed this to happen. And... what does this have to do with the Police again?
Housing board has transferred their responsibilities for defective construction to flat purchasers who could be fined or jailed for any incidents of window dropping.
You're wrong about doing lesser and lesser. The thing is, they still do the same things. It's just that nowadays, instead of just the Police, other agencies also have powers to take enforcement actions for certain matters.
Just imagine by doing less and lesser all our policemen and ministers are still claiming to be worth more and more and many of them are asking to be paid higher than the S$300,000.00 pa for sitting around and trying to cater to passers-by enquiries which they call successful policing which deserves more pay rise.
So the Police do the same amount of things, possibly more nowadays, but there are certain matters which can now be enforced by other relevant government bodies.
The Police's job is to enforce all sorts of laws under the sun. But whether they are the lone agency to enforce it or have other agencies to help enforce it is another matter altogether. -
i did say they refer counselling cases to approved bodies. While they have a small group of trained professionals to handle exceptional cases, we should not confuse ALL the police officers for shrinks.Originally posted by Tiggerific:The counselling is not done officially, because after all, not all coppers are officially counsellor-trained. And you're wrong: they DO refer cases to the relevant agencies. Files will be put up, and the nearest Family Service Centre/Community Mediation Centre etc will be informed accordingly, and then they will followup on the cases.
It is only naturally that being the immediate agency handling trauma-related cases, they are the logical first line in advising victims and offering contacts to assist them psychologically. -
Haha true. To do so would be a most grave mistake.Originally posted by BillyBong:i did say they refer counselling cases to approved bodies. While they have a small group of trained professionals to handle exceptional cases, we should not confuse ALL the police officers for shrinks.
It is only naturally that being the immediate agency handling trauma-related cases, they are the logical first line in advising victims and offering contacts to assist them psychologically.