‘Huge risk’ to engage rioters prior to arrival of SOC troops, inquiry told

SINGAPORE — Frontline police officers would have been taking a “huge risk” if they had engaged the crowd prior to the arrival of the police’s Special Operations Command (SOC), said its deputy commander Deputy Assistant Commissioner (DAC) David Scott Arul at the hearing into the Dec 8 riot today (March 5).

He gave this assessment as he explained that the SOC had larger numbers whereas the frontline officers were scattered in small groups, and that the SOC have more tactical training and a greater level of protection with their gear and equipment.

He said his biggest concern if frontline officers had engaged the crowd was that they would have difficulty escalating their actions after advancing towards the crowd with shields due to the sort of weaponry they had, while the SOC had more options such as batons and tear gas.

“I’m not trying to sell an official line — this is my assessment,” said DAC Scott Arul, adding that if police officers had engaged the crowd and gotten injured, rioters could have seen that as a triumph and be emboldened towards further violence. He highlighted that 37 frontline officers were injured even without engaging the crowd.

DAC Scott Arul also told the inquiry that from an operational standpoint, public order situations can be dealt with through containment, arrests or dispersal.

A combination of the three methods is usually used but the SOC did not have the numbers to fully contain the hundreds of “very violent and mobile” rioters that night, thus DAC Scott Arul decided to disperse them and arrest those who resisted the troopers. The hearing continues today.