When he retired from the Singapore Police Force in 2023, Singaporean Jason Chin tossed around some ideas of what he’d to do next. Travelling? Perhaps. Becoming a house husband? Maybe. A full-time retiree? Not quite.

“The first few weeks (of retirement) were enjoyable,” Mr Chin, 57, confessed. It didn’t take long before this new-found freedom became a cloud on the horizon. “I couldn’t see myself living this lifestyle. I am not used to this.”

Considering all that have happened in his past, it’s not at all surprising that he felt so. He is one who has lived a life of many adventures.

There have been many moments in Mr Chin’s life when he was put on the edge. The first was when a teenage Mr Chin was assaulted—or as he calls it “a punch on his face”—by a felon, who was robbing a gold necklace from his friend. “The police came, took statements and began a series of investigations,” he recounted. It was not long before the felon was apprehended and convicted for robbery with hurt. “He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and 12 strokes of cane.”  

This experience with the Singapore Police Force would later become the impetus for him to be a policeman.

“I realised (the policemen and investigative officers) are effective. I wanted to do what they do: that is, to uphold peace and justice,” he said. And so, in 1988, when Mr Chin had to fulfil his National Service obligations, he set his heart on serving as a Regular Officer with the Police Training Command, the primary training institute of the Singapore Police Force, instead of enlisting in the Singapore Army.

In another instance, Mr Chin and his colleague were out patrolling on the road when a man hopped off the sidewalk to block their vehicle, waving frantically as he did so, to demand their attention. He eventually led them to a HDB void deck where the two policemen encountered a woman, the man’s wife, on the ground, drenched in perspiration, with hands cradling her abdomen and blood trickling down her thighs.

“We could see the baby’s head,” Mr Chin, who was not married then and had never witnessed childbirth, said. The hospital was a short distance away, but the baby could not wait, he recounted. Until the paramedics arrived, there was little they could do too.      

“You’d see births but there are also times when you’d see deaths too,” Mr Chin said. He had seen his share of suicide cases on the sunny island.  

The third was one of the goriest encounters he faced. Mr Chin, who was stationed in the neighbourhood police post, was called to an unsightly scene: A woman, presumably middle-aged, has taken a tumble on the ground. Sitting in a pool of blood, she was clinging on to her stomach, which had been slashed, to prevent her guts from spilling out, Mr Chin recalled. Her husband had assaulted her and she had barely escaped.

“In the course of my career, I saw many things,” Mr Chin said, reflecting on his 35-year tenure with the Singapore Police Force. The time he spent as a policeman or as an instructor to the cadets was purposeful and well-spent, he explained.

Now 57, Mr Chin still wishes to don on his uniform or commit his life to doing something familiar.

“Luckily, POLWEL (Co-operative) called me,” Mr Chin said. POLWEL Co-op, short for POLWEL Co-operative Society, had offered him a full-time position to be an Approved Assessment Organisation (AAO) assessor. The job requires him to conduct Security Workforce Skills Qualifications assessments for the private security industry, ensuring that security officers meet the relevant competency requirements before deployment.

Through talks and engagements, POLWEL Co-op had earlier reached out to Mr Chin and other retiring officers to share about their Career Transition Programmes. Some, like Mr Chin, wanted to continue working albeit at a more casual pace.

Recognising the skillsets and wealth of experience behind these trained personnels, this is part of the co-operative’s larger initiative to engage retired police officers and continuously tap on their skillsets to do good.  

“It’s like what I did in the past as a trainer but without the need to create a lesson plan. My job is to assess,” Mr Chin said. Candidates who are getting assessed will be put through different scenarios, whether performing duties in a guard house or patrolling at a shopping mall, and be evaluated on how they would react. “There is also work-life balance here,” he added. “I can now visit my aged mother and spend more time with my family.”

Today, he is one of 60 assessors who have benefitted from this engagement scheme. These full-timers also get to enjoy work benefits, which can run the gamut from training and development programmes to team building activities with fellow assessors.

Aspiring career transitioners will first get a teaser of what it is like to be an assessor at a five-day workplace attachment programme. This includes a career coaching session on the initial day, followed by on-the-job training the next four days.

To Mr Chin, POLWEL Co-op offers a semblance of familiarity. Even though its tempo can never be compared to when he was on the front lines, Mr Chin still sees and works with familiar faces within the co-operative. There are fellow assessors who are ex-colleagues. And there are even fellow colleagues within the co-operative who have been trained under him back when he was in the Force. “POLWEL (Co-operative) feels just like a second home,” he mused.

On what advice would he give to those who are keen to join the Force, Mr Chin said matter-of-factly: “As a police officer, you will find yourself standing on an imaginary line. You can walk on it. But never ever cross that line.”  

Faces of Co-operator is a seasonal column featuring the stories behind co-operative employees and members. Here, we featured Mr Jason Chin of POLWEL Co-operative.

Words and Photos by Sng Ler Jun