 has commented on Leader of the Opposition, Pritam Singh's claims that "no wrong" has been done to the Police){kind=link}
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has commented on Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh’s claims that “no wrong” has been done to the Police in the case of Raeesah Khan’s lies in Parliament, rejecting his claims in the process.
They have also said that in actual fact, many resources and manpower were activated into looking into her allegations.
Went through records
The SPF said that after the parliamentary session on 3rd August where ex-opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Raeesah Khan took the stand to claim that a sexual assault victim was mistreated when reporting her case in a Police station, officers had actually went through many records to substantiate her claims, going as far as looking at all visitor records to police stations islandwide since the start of 2017.
They did so to identify if Raeesah Khan had accompanied the victim to the station like what she has claimed.
Furthermore, the police did an extra round of checks so as to ensure that they did not miss out any details.
They added that the case was taken very seriously as it was claimed by a Member of Parliament, and also that the officers in charge took into mind that Raeesah Khan might not have entered the station with the victim, giving her the benefit of doubt.
Based on the assumptions above, the police combed through more than 1,400 records from 2018 to 2021 to narrow down the list to those cases which matches Raeesah Khan’s account and were also told to check through the details thoroughly.
On top of all the work that they have already done, feedback by members of the public on cases like these were also checked through.
Alas, after all the checks, they could not find any case that matches Raeesah Khan’s description.
On Pritam Singh’s claims
Mr Singh attended a hearing by Parliament’s Committee of Privileges (COP) last Friday, giving evidence orally and also spoke about the impact that Raeesah Khan’s statement had on the SPF.
He had then said that Raeesah Khan’s lie would not have affected the SPF, stating that the SPF was not a “broken-back” organisation.
With regards to his claims, the SPF has said that Mr Singh had minimised the possible impact of the lie.
Mr Singh had also questioned the efforts that the SPF had given to investigate the allegations.
The SPF then said that the impact of false allegations like this is not just measured by the amount of man hours lost in investigations, as putting in resources to investigate false allegations like this affects the productivity in handling other real cases, thus impacting members of the public.
On public trust in the SPF
The SPF then stressed the importance of public trust in them, saying that having the public trust them is integral in their officers ability to carry out their missions effectively to ensure the peace and security which the people enjoy now.
This is so that there will be cooperation between the public and SPF when it comes to deterring crime.
False allegations made against the SPF will also make citizens lose trust in the SPF, which may prevent real victims from seeking help.
All allegations against the SPF’s professionalism will be taken seriously, and it is discouraging to the officers when comments that belittle their efforts are made against them.
Image source: Raeesah Khan, Pritam Singh Facebook