This happened in 2005 somewhere in mid Aug. I was working the graveyard shift that night.

At about 0330hrs, my partner & I were dispatched to a distress call received via the “Emergency Call System (ECS)” located at the old Jalan Besar NPP.

nb: Every NPP would have an ECS outside the NPP. This was to facilitate for those (after NPP’s closing hrs) unable to get to a phone in time and the system is connected directly to a Police Operator.

So on tt nite at the time, our Police Operator had rcvd a “distress” signal fm the ECS at the said NPP. However, the Police Operator was unable to identify if it was a female or a male voice, just that she could hear someone crying there. So my partner & I rushed to the old NPP.

We could not believe wat we saw when we reached..

The wall which once had the ECS on it was now bare except for the dangling wires which were still hanging out from the wall. How did our Police Operator managed to get a distress call then??!!

As fm 2000, Jalan Besar NPP ceased to be in operation. And when operations ceased there, there was no more electricity, water or phone lines connected to it.

We were spooked by that time, cos we suddenly felt the temp in the air drop several notches..

Nevertheless, we persisted and conducted a thorough foot patrol arnd the vicinity and some of our colleagues also helped comb the area. Nothing out of the ordinary was found..

Suddenly, one of my colleagues asked wat’s the date today and my partner answered. Then something passed between them cos they both told the rest of us to move out and return to base as soon as we’ve completed our search of the vicinity.

Upon reaching base, I asked what happened and questioned on how the ECS could have worked when it was no longer there.

My partner then related this incident to me which happened a few yrs b4 Jalan Besar NPP ceased operations on the same date and time when the distress call was rcvd by our Operator:

On tt fateful nite, there had been a distress call for back-up by fellow officers at Boat Quay. Officer ABC (not his real name), who at the time was attached to Jalan Besar NPP (still operational at the time) had responded to that said distress call (with permission fm superiors) on the police scooter. However, he never reached the location.

Cos he was involved in a fatal accident where he was knocked down by a taxi driver.

That nite when my Police Operator rcvd the distress call via the ECS at Jalan Besar NPP, marked the death anniversary of Officer ABC. And it was also during the Hungry Ghosts’ Festival.

Personally, I believe his spirit came back just to say hello to his old friends without any harm intended whatsoever. But I know my colleagues who knew him and had worked with him before all paid Officer ABC respect with incense and food offerings the next day at the old NPP.

God bless his soul. I hope he managed to find peace somehow.