A survey conducted of 1,000 private security officers found that 423 of them have faced some form of abuse at work.
The Union of Security Employees (USE), together with the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), announced the findings on 25 March 2021.
This was 10 per cent higher than the findings released by USE in June 2020.
USE General Secretary Raymond Chin said: “USE is very concerned with the increase in abuse of our security officers. We urge members of the public to respect our officers as they are merely carrying out their tasks as prescribed by law.
“We also encourage buyers of security services to work together with us and our security agencies to protect our officers from abuse, as well as to report such instances of abuse to the police expeditiously.”
While incidences of physical abuse have remained low and unchanged, the survey found that 37.2 per cent of the respondents this year have experienced some form of verbal abuse, with the largest proportion of abuse coming from members of the public (39.4 per cent).
The percentage of respondents that say they have been abused by their employers has increased substantially, up to 13.4 per cent as compared to 3 per cent last year.
On the proportion of abuse from members of the public and employers, USE Executive Secretary Steve Tan said that the numbers could be due to the enforcement of COVID-19 safety measures.
He said: “This survey was done six to seven months into COVID, and we are aware that our officers have had to implement safe management measures. During that time, people may not be aware of the estates’ rules in terms of taking temperature and ingress-egress control.”
As security officers are at the forefront of upholding these measures, he was not surprised that the level of abuse faced by the public has gone up.
Some officers might also have taken reprimands from security firms for lapses following a complaint from the security buyers as a form of verbal abuse, according to Mr Tan.
Prosegur Singapore Chief Security Officer Michael Dass, who works in the Central Business District, said that although verbal abuse from members of the public may have gone up over the past year he empathised with those who got frustrated with the new safety requirements introduced because of the pandemic.
“Some of them were frustrated and they could get verbally abusive, but we understand the situation that they were in,” said the 15-year industry veteran.
By the third quarter of 2021, USE will be launching a new mobile app for security officers to report abuse and work-related grievances to USE’s mediation service.
The mediation service, which was launched in 2018, has helped some 800 officers resolve employment-related disputes, instances of abuse, or work-related grievances.
USE will also continue conducting regular engagements with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to share their inputs on how security officers can be better protected.
The majority of respondents also cited verbal abuse as the most common.
Last year, 32 per cent of security officers reported facing abuse at their workplaces, with the highest abuse faced coming from the general public.
On suggestions on how security officers can be better protected, both Mr Dass and KH Security Pte Ltd Senior Business Development Manager Gary Haris stated that decals and signages issued by security unions and associations have been an effective reminder for members of the public to refrain from verbally abusing officers.
Mr Dass also suggested that service providers implement a set of operational guidelines when it comes to dealing with abusive people.
He said: “I have already informed my concierge that whenever there is a problem, or if they sense that someone is going to cause problems, to immediately inform us at the FCC [Fire Command Centre].”
Mr Dass said his team uses code words to describe the problems they are encountering when calling for backup.
As for Mr Haris, he suggested providing guaranteed legal support from security unions and employers for security officers who wish to pursue civil action against their abusers – something that the National Transport Workers' Union (NTWU) and our four public transport operators have adopted.
“I hope that we can expand such protection to our security officers who are just trying to do their jobs to keep people safe,” he said.
