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On 21 October 2004, Sgt Muhammad Shahrel bin Isman of Geylang Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) was scheduled to perform Geylang Serai Neighbourhood Police Post duty. At approximately 1430hrs, Mr Lee, an old man in his 70s, came to the post seeking Sgt Shahrel’s assistance.
He explained that he had lost his only set of house keys and was locked out of his flat at Block 100 Aljunied Crescent. As Mr Lee was living under welfare, he had no money with him to engage a locksmith. Neither did he have any family or friends. Upon hearing Mr Lee’s story, Sgt Shahrel phoned the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and was asked to wait for HDB’s technical staff to return his call. When no call came, he decided to call HDB again but as it was past 1700hrs, the Customer Service Officers had already left for the day. Sgt Shahrel was seriously contemplating kicking open the door as Mr Lee looked very tired and had requested him to do so.
It was then that SSSgt Simon Ho, SSgt Shahren and Sgt Sheikh came by. The four kindhearted officers were in a dilemma. They realised that if they were to kick the door open, Mr Lee would no longer be able to lock his house at night. Finally, the officers unanimously decided to contribute some money and engage the services of a locksmith. After calling several locksmiths, all demanding a high fee, they eventually found a locksmith who was willing to charge them $40 for his services. The locksmith, Mr Ray Neo, unlocked the door for Mr Lee. However, when he saw Mr Lee’s plight, he kindly waived the fee for his services.
This is indeed a touching story that demonstrates how kindness begets kindness. In appreciation of the locksmith’s kindness, ‘G’ Division followed up with a Thank You letter to him. The four officers’ assistance did not stop there. Knowing that Mr Lee was receiving public assistance from the Community Development Council (CDC) in the form of a monthly allowance of $260, the officers went the extra mile by appealing to Mr Goi, a Case Worker at South East CDC, who promised to increase Mr Lee’s allowance. In addition, Sgt Shahrel also liaised with Mr Koh, the Manager of Geylang East Home for the Aged, who has agreed to help Mr Lee by providing him with free meals daily and free grocery rations on a monthly basis. Mr Koh has also promised to send his staff to Mr Lee's house every once in a while to check on him.
This is an example of simply excellent service delivered by the four officers from Geylang NPC. A heavy workload and stressful environment did not affect their desire to achieve gold standard in service excellence. Well done, officers! |
Simply Fun 
