SINGAPORE — How many police officers does it take to arrest someone? This was a question asked when two videos of a group of people fighting last year resurfaced last month and went viral.

In them, around six police officers could be seen trying to defuse the situation, prompting netizens to question why so many were needed, and why they could not just use a taser and be done with it.

Amid such comments, the police invited some reporters to the Home Team Academy last week for a half-day boot camp to experience firsthand the challenges and decisions officers faced in such situations.

NOT JUST MATTER OF SPEED AND NUMBERS

For a start, we were taught some basic moves to execute an arrest.

The "rear wrist lock" is a move that all officers must perfect, for when used correctly, it gives a solo officer a good chance of controlling resisting suspects all by himself.

TODAY journalist Kelly Ng (centre) at the basic police defence tactics training. Photo: Koh Mui Fong/TODAY

Of course, we had to learn how to operate a handcuff.

Then we were taken through the use of a baton, and which are the "green" or safe areas to strike on a subject's body that would result in less trauma.

A good arrest should not be judged by the number of officers it takes to take down a subject, or how speedily that happens, said Superintendent Raymond Lo, commanding officer of the Frontline Policing Training Centre.

"A good arrest is one that can be done swiftly, with no injury to the subject and the officers… We don't put a time frame, we don't want to put unnecessary pressure on our officers.

Full-time police national servicemen are seen during a training session. Photo: Koh Mui Fong/TODAY

"We don't want our officers to be cowboys and go straight to the arrest. We want them to use their soft skills, to engage the other parties and get their agreement, their commitment to follow the instructions," he said.

After a three-hour crash course and these words of advice, we were asked to play the role of police officers in two mock scenarios — arresting a drunkard for disorderly behaviour, as well as a man who was causing public nuisance.

"Do whatever you want", we were told, for the "aggressor" is played by an experienced police officer. Tasers were not an option, of course, as we did not want to injure the "aggressor".

I was assigned the second scenario with three other reporters.

To say we fumbled was putting it mildly. Many a time, we managed to grab hold of the subject, only to have him break free from our clutches within seconds.

Invited journalists trying their hands at arresting a man. Photo: Koh Mui Fong/TODAY

Even after we finally managed to pin him down, we took a good whole three minutes before we managed to coax him into lift up his hands to be cuffed.

In all, with the help of one instructor, it took four of us 10 minutes to subdue one man causing a ruckus in public.

In the first scenario, it took four reporters, with assistance from three instructors, 20 minutes to subdue the "drunkard".

And these were unarmed subjects, a fellow reporter wryly commented. Indeed, if the subject had carried a weapon, the arrest would have been far more challenging.

TO TASE OR NOT TO TASE

The highlight of our boot camp was getting a chance to wield the taser.

Short for Thomas A Swift Electric Rifle, the taser is a dart gun that subdues its targets with jolts of electricity.

It works by propelling two darts of electricity into the target's body, which complete an electrical circuit, and in most cases, cause incapacitation.

While each pair of patrolling police officers is armed with one taser, the dart guns are typically deployed only in stand-off situations.

The taser is a dart gun that subdues its targets with jolts of electricity. Photo: Koh Mui Fong/TODAY

The police declined to reveal their considerations for when tasers would be used, but said they typically don't use them on moving subjects, as it would be challenging to ensure that both darts hit the subject, which is necessary for him to be "stunned".

Due to a logistical issue, I did not get a chance at the taser. But observing the other reporters try their hands, it seemed to take some skill to fire the first dart at the ideal spot — at the upper region of the subject's abdomen — so that the second dart is also propelled onto the subject's body, thus ensuring an effective shot.

The victim will get a five-second shock, which sends intense signals through his nervous system, causing some pain and triggering muscle contractions.

I observed several misses as my colleagues attempted to wield the weapon, which was probably unsurprising for amateurs.

Reflecting on event at the end, the lack of coordination among ourselves and sudden changes on the ground were challenges that we reporters felt made the arrests difficult.

While I would expect our seasoned police officers, who have been put through far longer periods of training and assessments, to perform better than us, these exercises gave us a firsthand taste of the challenges our men in blue face that we would not have been able appreciate just by viewing viral videos posted online.

One reporter, for instance, said there were many instances where he almost lost his cool at the "subject", but was reminded of the need to maintain professionalism as a "police officer".

Plus, we had a fairly compliant "subject", which would probably not be the norm.

Figures from the police showed that there were 412 cases of police officers who were hurt or abused in the course of their work last year, of which two in three resulted in physical hurt. In 2016, there were 445 cases of abuse, of which about 47 per cent resulted in physical hurt.