Cosplay guidelines with guidance from the Singapore Police Force

Hello!

We are from the team behind the Singapore Cosplay Club and Cosfest Asia. In a content partnership with Alvinology.com, we will be posting regular updates about cosplay. Do stay tuned to this site for updates.

For a start, we have a little public service announcement for the cosplay community in Singapore.

Some of you might have came across the recent news of a 21-year-old man, Timothy Tan Zhiyu, who was fined S$1,000 on 14 March 2017 for displaying threatening behaviour by taking out a realistic looking replica gun in public and cocking it.

Earlier in 2014, a “samurai” who got on an MRT train brandishing a sword, which he swung at police officers, was jailed for seven weeks yesterday.

How do we prevent ourselves from getting mistakenly arrested or causing alarm to the public when we cosplay with realistic looking weapons?

Group picture

Recently we had a discussion with the Singapore Police about these topics with regards to cosplaying in Singapore. Here are some guidelines we developed to share with the Singapore cosplay community after the discussion.

All cosplayers are advised to remember these guidelines when going out for cosplay events or photo shoots:

1.

If you are bringing along a prop, e.g. a gun replica or sword which looks like a real weapon, please ensure to have it wrapped up or covered before heading out. Props can cause public alarm if not handled properly. Offenders can be arrested and prosecuted.

Examples of cases causing public alarm:

[Local] Man who allegedly carried toy rifle at MRT station under probe for causing public alarm

[Overseas] Man with ‘toy’ rifle prompts evacuation at Rome’s main station

2.

When out in public or at events, please exercise caution and do not direct or point your prop(s) randomly at any anyone.

3.

When cosplaying in public places(non-event venue), please be mindful and refrain from wearing controversial costumes, causing public alarm.

Premises’ management, including transport facilities, may deny you entry, depending on your costume (e.g. cosplayers wearing masks). Please do not wear masks on public transport or in places too far away from anime/cosplay events. You are advised to don your costume only when you arrive at the cosplay venue.

4.

Cosplayers shall stick to their gender stated on their IC (not the gender they are cosplaying) when visiting the restrooms, i.e. a man shall not enter a ladies restroom just because he is dressed as a lady. If that happens, and a lady happens to be coincidentally in the restroom, that can amount to Insulting the Modesty of the lady.

To keep cosplaying fun and enjoyable for all, we have come up with this set of four simple guidelines for your protection. This is to avoid any unwanted complaints from members of the public.

Rest assured we are not prudes. At Cosfest and at Cosfest venues, we are fine with whatever your costume choices are. However, we want to ensure no one gets into any unnecessary trouble in Singapore.

Please share this with other cosplayers and friends who love cosplay so we can keep our community safe.

Read about the event director who was not able to secure the right permits for the cosplay artists in Malaysia, which lead to a slew of arrests.

 

Stephanie

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