Mr Mah Kiat Seng was awarded S$20,000 in damages last month after a High Court judge found he was wrongly imprisoned on the basis of mental illness.
, with the police taking “a different view” from the courts, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam told Parliament on Tuesday .
Justice Jeyaretnam had also found that the officer acted in bad faith in apprehending Mr Mah, but that Mr Mah could not prove his claim of having been assaulted. Because police officers often have to make split-second decisions based on limited information, it would not be realistic to critique their every move without the benefit of hindsight or being on the ground, Mr Shanmugam said.
“This has happened in other countries,” he added “We have, so far, avoided that situation, and we have to be careful to avoid that outcome.”Mr Shanmugam cited another concern - that the court decision may adversely impact the police’s ability to detain individuals under the Mental Health Act, which Mr Mah was apprehended under.
He noted that officers on patrol duty wear body-worn cameras, which means their actions can be assessed from the footage. The judge had found that Mr Mah’s unusual behaviour did not qualify as symptoms of a mental disorder, and that the arresting officer took a dislike to him and made up observations about him.
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