'Like a mediator': From spot checks to investigating breaches, here's how ICA officers enforce stay-home notices

SINGAPORE: While on house visits, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority investigation officer Ganesh Reddi Gurusamy has been berated, asked to retrieve letters from the mailbox and stepped in to solve technical difficulties.

The house visits are part of a three-pronged approach, which includes text messages and phone calls, to ensure that the stay-home notices are adhered to.Individuals who have been issued stay-home notices are required to remain at home at all times for 14 days, as a precautionary measure to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission in Singapore.

The stay-home notice was first implemented on Feb 18 for Singapore residents, long-term pass holders and foreign work pass holders returning from mainland China outside Hubei province. These cases include appeals from individuals to be exempted from the stay-home notice, or to be given a short-term excuse from the order because of certain"really urgent or personal" issues, added SUPT Tan.Officers on house visit teams are briefed and prepped to work 12-hour shifts in general. Each pair of officers will take on about 10 to 12 house visits per shift.

During the house visits, officers will enquire about the well-being of the resident, and"make sure that the resident is who it is supposed to be". "There was one instance where technology was a problem. They said that they had not been receiving SMSes," recalled SSGT Ganesh. "Especially for those older people, they are stuck inside the house and want dearly to have somebody to talk to," she said."So sometimes when we come to their house, they will just pour out their hearts to us ... We try to talk to them."The main challenge to overcome for CI Nurhayati were concerns from family members over her safety.

"My first question was ... 'If I visited the person, what if I get it?' I'm also married and have two young kids, so my biggest concern is what if I go back home after doing house visits and spread it to them," recalled SSGT Ganesh. "ICA has been leading these checks for people under stay-home notices and so during the house visits they will encounter instances of breaches ... This will be surfaced and flagged out to us," he explained.

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