Thursday, August 17, 2006

"Protectors" in the doldrums

It's always disappointing to read on Dawn's blog about certain police officers not taking action when ordinary folks tried to make a report about animal abuse (citing lack of evidence), or worse, the police officers not knowing the existence of the Animals & Birds Act! I mean, how are these people who are supposed to protect the people going to uphold the law when they don't even know which laws existed?!?!

Recently, there was bad publicity about the police again, when a letter writer wrote to the press about the lack of action by the police when her brother tried to make a report after being assaulted by a gang of men. The badly injured brother suffered fractures, and yet he was told by the policemen who attended to him that it was a civil case!

It just make me mad to read about such things, and I would go into a tirade about what these people should be doing (in an ideal world) and go "Pui pui pui" about them to my poor husband, who would be just as appalled as I was.

What really takes the cake (almost) was an encounter I had last night.

On my way home from MIL's, I passed by the police post where I saw a tabby cat hanging about and rubbing against the opened glass door of the police's air-conditioned office. The female police officer (an Indian young lady) was chatting on the phone inside, and upon seeing the cat, she put aside her phone (after telling the other party to wait), and started doing the "tsk tsk" to shoo the cat away.

The thing which amazed me and which made me stopped to observe was that the police gal was standing behind her desk which was at least 10 feet away from where the cat was, and yet she tried to shoo the cat from such a distance away. Ain't that just silly?

After a while, she realised what she tried to do was totally futile. I tried to move the cat away, but the tabby simply refused to budge, and even tried to paw me or bite me (I didn't see it as I was still looking at the silly gal but I felt blunt clawing on my hand).

The police gal (PG) then came out to try to chase the cat away again and to close the door. At that point, I couldn't help myself, and here goes our conversation:

Me: It's just a cat.
PG: Ya, but I cannot stand cats...
Me: Why don't you just close the door then, it's just a harmless cat.
PG: I just cannot...
Me: *Feeling incredulous* And you're a police officer?
PG: Yes, I am a police officer, but when it comes to cats, I just cannot...
Me: *Speechless and walked off in disgust*

*Roll eyes*

5 comments:

Singapore Community Cat said...

Doesn't take much imagination to think how such a "bigoted" police officer will "entertain" a report on abuse of cats.

auntie p said...

This encounter really makes me wonder what kind of people they're recruiting into the force these days, or what kind of training this "oh-so-helpless" recruit is getting. Frankly, I can't imagine her surviving a 5-day Outward Bound Course.

cat_aunty said...

Sigh, and we are supposed to rely on these people to protect and defend us......faintz

Zeus said...

We have the same issues here in the states when it comes to reporting animal abuse/cruelty. It's sad that there are people in positions to help who simply choose not to.

Anonymous said...

Maybe she just likes to wear a police uniform ;)
Looks nice...but can't stand cats..