SINGAPORE – When Mr Abdul Hamid Abdul Aziz was getting some fresh air outside his Bukit Batok East Avenue 3 flat on March 16, he did not expect to see it raining shoes.

But there, on the fourth floor of the Housing Board block opposite his, was a man throwing shoes from the corridor.

When the 56-year-old remembered that his children’s shoes had gone missing from outside his flat a few months earlier, he alerted two of his fellow Citizens on Patrol (COP) members to contact police.

He then headed to the ground floor with another COP member and saw that the man was there too, picking up the shoes he had thrown earlier. Before he could cycle away, Mr Hamid snapped photos of the footwear fiend.

About 30 minutes later, the shoe stealer was caught by the police, thanks to his photos.

Mr Hamid was among six members of the public awarded the Public Spiritedness Award on Monday (June 17) in a ceremony held at the Jurong Police Division.

Fellow COP members Ms Winnie Tan, a 56-year-old caregiver at St Luke’s ElderCare and Mdm Fatimah Hayon, a 55-year-old part-time house maid, were also lauded for stopping the thief. The other COP member involved was not at the ceremony.

“People in the neighbourhood had been complaining of missing shoes. I’m glad we stopped the thief,” said Mr Hamid, who has been volunteering as a COP member for more than 20 years.

Mr Tan Kay Huat, 51, received the award for helping the police chase down a man who was spotted stealing cash cards from vehicles at a multi-storey carpark in Jurong on Feb 22.

Another recipient, 29-year-old Edmund Shao, took photos of suspects in an assault case, which led to their arrest.

Mr Shao, who works in business services development, had earlier spotted six young men beating up two other men in a multi-purpose hall along Jelebu Road.

He also provided police with the license plate number of the car some of the men fled in.

Separately, the police presented four Singapore Post (SingPost) staff with Community Partnership Awards.

They had helped to prevent 10 victims on 10 separate occasions from losing $5,500 in total to various scams.

One case, that happened last year, involved a love scam. A retired middle-aged woman wanted to remit US$800 (S$1,096) to a person she had met online.

But the intended recipient’s Nigerian account raised red flags for SingPost staff Ms Nora Yasmin Zain.

“Love scams are quite common. Some telltale signs of such scams include the customer withholding information about the receiver, and the country of the receiver’s bank account,” said the 34-year-old who has been working at SingPost for 14 years.

Assistant Commissioner (AC) of Police Devrajan Bala, Commander of Jurong Police Division, advised members of the public not to trust people they have never dealt and met with before.

He added that they should always check that the transaction is with legitimate entities, especially if it involves a large sum of money.

Community Partnership Awards were awarded to 22 companies in total including Keppel Offshore and Marine, which was represented by Mr Phillip Mah, the firm’s general manager for security.

Commending all recipients for their help in stopping crime, AC Devrajan said: “We have to fight crime and we can’t do it alone. We need to do it with the community.”

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