You might have seen a video of a man angrily lambasting TransCom officers for conducting a check on him.

His main peeve being his assumption that the check was done because of his race.

This led to a strong rebuttal by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) on July 10, 2019.

In the statement, they categorically denied that the checks were racially-motivated:

"The Police are aware of a video circulating online where Police officers were conducting checks on a man at Bishan MRT station. There have been several comments made by netizens, stating that such checks were targeted at Malays.

Such allegations are untrue, baseless, irresponsible, and may stir up racial tensions. The Police take a stern view of persons who post remarks online that could cause ill-will and hostility between the different races or communities in Singapore and they will be dealt with in accordance with the law."

Another startling revelation was that there were 720 arrests in 2018 from spot checks by TransCom officers.

Of which, the "majority of those arrested were for serious offences such as possession of dangerous weapons and drugs, as well as having a warrant of arrest issued against them".

That's quite a mind boggling number.

They ended the statement with a call for the public to keep their faith in the police.

"The Police would like to assure the public that our officers are impartial in their checks, and are trained to carry them out professionally. We hope that the public can understand and appreciate the need for such checks, which ensures the safety and security of commuters, and will cooperate with the officers as they carry out their responsibility."

You can read the full statement here.

Image from SPF