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More young people volunteering as cops

Date : 1 June 2010

The Straits Times - More young people volunteering as cops

01 June 2010

Besides performing basic duties, they offer fresh ideas on team bonding

By Bryan Toh

BY DAY, Mr Tong Ziyang helps plan programmes for youth.

By night, the 23-year-old programme assistant at the Metropolitan Young Men's Christian Association Singapore takes on a different persona.

Donning the blue of a police constable, he is part of a Singapore Police Force's Volunteer Special Constabulary (VSC) unit that helps keep the peace on Singapore's streets.

'I find it an honour to be part of the police force as I can serve the community and maintain order,' said Mr Tong, who puts in an average of about 60 hours a month.

He became interested in the VSC programme after hearing about it from his brother Keith, 28, who joined the unit three years earlier.

Mr Keith Tong, who works in the pharmaceutical industry, said: 'I would tell him over family meals about how I got to help people during my VSC duties.

'Eventually, he got interested and signed up, which is a good thing as the VSC is a good cause to support and it improves our bond as brothers.'

The efforts of the Tongs and their colleagues at the Central Police Division have helped their unit win the Best VSC Unit award, out of the 13 such units in Singapore.

The award will be presented at the annual police dinner tonight at the Home Team Academy in Old Choa Chu Kang Road.

The Tongs are among a growing number of young Singaporeans opting to volunteer with the police.

Said Mr Hiralal Eknath Mane, a liaison officer with the Central Police Division VSC unit: 'In the past five years, more young officers are joining us, and they come between the ages of 23 and 27.'

Currently, 16 out of the 120 officers in the unit are aged below 30.

One of them, Mr Prakash Subramanian, a 28-year-old safety coordinator, believes the reason for the increase is that more young people regard joining the VSC as a good learning experience.

He said: 'As part of the VSC, you can learn a lot about different things, such as the law, how the police handle cases, and about citizens' rights - it's very enriching.'

The VSC programme was started in 1946, right after World War II, to supplement the police force.

And what started out as a group of 150 officers has grown to a force of 1,000 - with volunteers ranging in age from 18 to 60, clocking up to 50 hours of volunteer work per month on average.

Assistant Superintendent Mark Chow, deputy head of the winning VSC unit, said winning the award for a sixth straight year was no easy task.

'But we achieved it by maintaining good communication throughout the unit and having a willing team of officers,' he added.

The influx of younger volunteers has certainly benefited the unit.

ASP Chow said: 'Besides performing their basic duties, they offer ideas such as team-bonding activities to help motivate the unit.

'They sacrifice a lot of their personal time in the course of duty and I am very proud of their dedication.'

Apart from the award for Best VSC Unit, awards for Best Land Division, Best Police National Service Land Division and Best Key Installations (KINS) Division will also be given out tonight. The winners are Clementi Police Division, Tanglin Police Division and Airport KINS Division respectively.

Clementi Police Division has come up for special mention as this is the sixth time it has won the award since 2000.

Said the division's commander, Assistant Commissioner Ng Yeow Boon: 'Besides ensuring that our officers are well trained and equipped, we also try to keep them and their families happy by updating them on our work frequently, and rewarding them with items like movie tickets after solving a case.'

bryantoh@sph.com.sg

(With thanks to SPH - StraitsTimes.com)

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