'We were just following rules', says security guard berated by condo resident
A condominium security officer seen in videos being insulted by a resident said she and her colleagues were only following the rules set by the condo’s management.
In the video, the resident of Thomson Grand Condo in Sin Ming, who is off-camera, berated and insulted a security officer of the condo after his BMW was clamped for being parked in a space meant for residents without the required decal.
The resident, who in the video identified himself as Mr Wong, uploaded the video into a residents’ chat, which was then forwarded to Shin Min Daily News by another person in the chat.
The man was also seen in another video – shot from afar – shouting at another person in the guardroom of the condo.
Senior security supervisor Lydia, who declined to give her surname, told The Straits Times her team was relatively new at the condo, taking over only in January.
“Maybe the previous security agency did not take any action (against him for parking illegally) but as my team is new, we were following all the rules set out by the condo’s management,” the 55-year-old said.
Ms Lydia, who has more than two decades of experience in the security industry, and her colleague Sheelan were confronted by the resident on two occasions on April 3, after multiple requests – 13 in total – were made in vain for the resident to move the illegally parked car.
According to a Union of Security Employees (USE) Facebook post on Tuesday, Mr Sheelan had seen the car parked in the space for residents without the required decal at about 1am on April 3 and tried five times but failed to reach the resident to move the vehicle. The security officer then put a written notice on the vehicle.
USE alleged that the resident then confronted Mr Sheelan at about 7am the same day, claiming that he owned a few units at the condo and could park there even without a decal, before leaving. The resident also made the same claim of owning multiple units in the condo in the video he uploaded in the residents’ chat.
The resident reportedly parked his car again in the same space at about 8am, which led to Mr Sheelan informing Ms Lydia about the situation, and the latter issuing another written notice at 9.20am.
Ms Lydia tried eight times but failed to reach the resident to move the car, before she clamped the vehicle at 9.40am, according to USE’s post.
Bodycam footage sent to ST showed that the man had approached the guard house at the condo’s entrance. He could be heard shouting insults at security officers and calling them “poor” in Mandarin.
The union said in the Facebook post: “The Private Security Industry Act was enhanced last year to offer security officers better protection against abuses like these. USE hopes that this incident will be probed further and just punishment be served.”
The police said they were alerted to the incident at 11 Sin Ming Walk at about 1.10pm on April 3.
ST understands that Mr Wong had called the police to assist him with removing the wheel clamp on his car.
The police said that no injuries were reported and that investigations are ongoing.
Ms Lydia said she would forgive the resident if he apologises. “If he is willing to say sorry, at least it shows he understands and owns up to his wrongdoing. It would show that he doesn’t think poorly of us.”
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