THREAD

The SARS officers parading the streets, extorting and terrorising people today, is an abberation of what the original SARS I grew up hearing about.

Yes, there were abuses, but they weren't walking the streets, mounting roadblocks and conducting stop & search.

In the early and mid 2000s, my late brother who was a regular detective in the police, used talk about handing over cases or collaborating with members of SARS when investigating violent crimes like armed robbery (kidnapping wasn't widespread then).

Yes, he told us stories of extrajudicial killings and torture at SARS offices. But these despicable acts were limited to their offices and mainly meted out to suspected violent crime suspects, not the yound man with a laptop or the one driving a flashy car.

So when did SARS go ballistic and become a state-sanctioned street with zero regard for the law and basic human rights?

Is the "radicalisation" of SARS a result of the explosion of criminality such as street gangsterism, Internet fraud and kidnapping in around 2009 and 2010?

So, while we call for #EndSARS or for an overhaul of the outfit, we should ask these questions so that their replacement doesn't end up becoming an enemy of the people they are supposed to protect.