• 777 Home Team officers will be receiving the Ministry of Home Affairs’ National Day Awards 2020 from Jan 26 onwards
• One officer was involved in a successful hostage negotiation operation involving a six-year-old boy in 2018
• Another is getting an efficiency medal for his role in an operations centre and his part in a fire safety law review

SINGAPORE — The bewildering look of a small boy when his own father became hostile and strangers were surrounding him at home. The cries of a hysterical mother pleading for help when her infant stopped breathing.

It requires a special gift to come into contact with such emotionally charged situations and still keep a sharp mind and remain composed.

Just ask some of the officers from the Singapore Police Force and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

Superintendent (Supt) Rimyzad Abd Hamid from the Singapore Police Force still cannot forget a hostage situation involving a 36-year-old father and a six-year-old son that he handled in 2018.

Similarly, that same year, Second Warrant Officer (WO2) Suhaimi Sani from SCDF had to respond in the blink of an eye when a young life appeared to be in danger.

The two officers are among 777 Home Team personnel who will be receiving National Day Awards under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The annual awards recognise deserving Home Team officers — who are from the police force, SCDF, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority, the prisons service and others — for their contributions and commitment in keeping Singapore safe and secure.

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the National Day Awards 2020 will be held in a decentralised manner from Tuesday onwards.

A FATHER TURNED HOSTAGE-TAKER

In 2018, a man in Ghim Moh had barricaded himself and his young son within a flat and refused to let the boy go.

Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported then that the man had become agitated after he got into an argument with several social workers who dropped by the flat.

As a member of the police crisis negotiations unit — where the goal is to save lives by defusing potentially life-threatening situations through negotiation — Supt Rimyzad and his team were assigned to the case. 

Supt Rimyzad, 46, who is also the commander of the Bukit Batok Neighbourhood Police Centre, remembered that the father was very emotional and the son had a confused look as he “struggled to comprehend what was going on”. 

“The expression affects you as a human being,” Supt Rimyzad told reporters on Monday (Jan 25).

It also brought to mind his own three children, particularly his middle child who was around the same age as the boy at that time.

Determined to make sure that the boy remains unharmed, Supt Rimyzad spent close to four hours building rapport with the man and trying to calm him down.

Debunking the notion that negotiators need to be “good talkers”, Supt Rimyzad said the reality is that they need to be good listeners instead. 

“It’s important to listen, to empathise, to really understand what are the issues (the other person is) facing. And then, we see how best we can help.”

Without going into detail, Supt Rimyzad said that they were able to secure the boy’s release and the man surrendered himself peacefully.

The man did have a final request before he was arrested — to be allowed to bathe his son and ensure the boy was comfortable.

“It was quite emotional for me,” Supt Rimyzad said of the touching father-son moment, which remains one of the more memorable incidents he has encountered over his 25 years of service.

This year, getting the long service medal at the National Day Awards is a career milestone for him. 

BABY STOPPED BREATHING, MUM HYSTERICAL

Another award recipient is Second Warrant Officer (WO2) Suhaimi Sani from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), who will be receiving the efficiency medal.

This is given to individuals who have made significant contributions and shown consistent diligence and dedication in their work.

The 37-year-old said that he was nominated for this award because of his contribution as a key member in the review and amendment of a fire safety law last year, as well as his supervisory role in the operations centre.

The operations centre is the first point of contact for members of the public who call 995 requiring emergency medical, fire, rescue and assistance related to hazardous materials.

One of WO2 Suhaimi's most memorable incidents was in 2018 when he helped a woman save her child while serving as a senior operations centre specialist.

He received a call from the distressed mother who told him that her eight-month-old baby was not breathing.

After dispatching an ambulance crew to the woman, he stayed on the line with her and guided her through the process of conducting infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

It was tough because he could not visually see what was going on, but the real challenge was trying to calm the hysterical woman down.

He managed to gain control of the situation and told the mother what she needed to do. Eventually, WO2 Suhaimi heard the sound of a baby crying in the background and knew the worst was over. 

“It was a sense of relief… (realising that) the baby was going to be all right,” he said, adding that he then had to attend to another emergency call immediately after that.

As for the award, WO2 Suhaimi said that it was “humbling to know that our efforts are being recognised”.

However, he was quick to add that he and his colleagues do not work for awards or recognition, but rather out of a sense of duty whenever they put on the uniform.

“At the end of the day, with or without the awards, life still goes on and we still do the best that we can to save lives,” he said.