The latest incident comes after a string of abuse cases against security officers, with three reported in April.
A survey by the Union of Security Employees (USE) last year showed that four in 10 security officers have faced abuse.
Despite the Private Security Industry Act being amended last year to enhance the protection of security officers by creating specific offences with enhanced penalties for abuse and harassment of security officers, SAS said “the results are consistent year-on-year”.
Verbal abuse constitutes the majority of abuse cases, with the recently publicised events being “the most egregious cases”, the association added.
On Monday, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said in a written reply to a parliamentary question that there were on average about 23 abuse or harassment cases reported each month in the first three months of 2023.
In contrast, there was an average of 13 reported cases per month between 2018 and 2021, before the Private Security Industry Act was amended.
“Anecdotally, there is higher awareness among security officers of the protections afforded to them,” said Mr Shanmugam, adding that this encouraged the officers, their employers and the USE to come forward to report incidents of abuse or harassment.
SAS said it has been working with security agencies to provide legal assistance to abused officers, and also asked its members to display the anti-abuse decal and to provide body cameras as a deterrent.
The association will also be issuing a set of guidelines for building owners and facility managers on what can be done to reduce abuse against officers next month.
This includes educating residents and tenants on treating officers professionally and fairly, as well as on the penalties for abuse.
“Security officers should be treated with respect, and the abuse of security officers will not be condoned,” said Mr Shanmugam.
“Perpetrators must know that security officers have both the protection of the law and the fullest support of the industry.”
