GOING through countless sheets of credit card transactions may not sound like the job of a typical police officer.

However, it is all in a day's work for Inspector Andy Foo, a financial fraud senior investigation officer at the Commercial Affairs Department.

Insp Foo, 31, had to scrutinise a month's records of transactions of over 22 credit cards in order to find a common link, which would eventually reveal how the cards were used to pay for overseas flights out of a neighbouring country.

His efforts paid off when he found out that all the credit card owners had previously been to a certain supermarket here to buy groceries.

The lead enabled the police to arrest the rogue cashier who had been taking down the names and credit card details of the customers there.

She would then send the information to her accomplices overseas, who bought $5,000 worth of air tickets last year.

Insp Foo, together with Assistant Superintendent Steven Wee, Sergeant Khairulnizam Muhamad and Corporal Mohd Sufian Jaafar, will be among 521 Singapore Police Force officers to be commended today.

At the Police Day Observance Ceremony and Commissioner of Police's Commendation Certificate Presentation Ceremony, which will be held at the Home Team Academy at Old Choa Chu Kang Road, the Tanglin Police Division will also be receiving the Best Land Division Competition and Best Police National Service Land Division awards.

ASP Wee, a 35-year-old special investigation section leader in the Criminal Investigation Department, speedily and resourcefully cracked a tough murder case in 2005.

The victim, a former school teacher, had been found dead and his body was in an advanced state of decomposition.

He had several stab wounds.

Within 24 hours, through tracking the deceased's mobile phone which was still in use, the police caught the murder suspect in Johor Baru in Malaysia with the help of the Royal Malaysian Police

ASP Wee told my paper yesterday: 'It was only after 48 hours that I got to go home.'

Working overnight to crack homicide and kidnapping cases is part of the job - he even has two to three sets of clothing in the office 'on standby'.

The longest he has had to stay in the office was four days, though he said fellow colleagues have stayed up to a week.

Other than personal sacrifices like ASP Wee's, police officers with integrity- such as Sgt Khairulnizam, 24, and Cpl Mohd Sufian, 22 - will be honoured as well. The two are being commended for rejecting a bribe from a pirated DVD peddler.

For these police officers, the satisfaction comes from a job well done.

Said Insp Foo: 'You have to be good in finding details, and see beyond the numbers.

'When you can fix the puzzle at the end, find the motive, and solve the case, it is very rewarding.'

The same goes for ASP Wee, even though the veteran police officer of 17 years has to 'wear a couple of hats' when solving a case - a counsellor to relatives of dead victims and also, at the same time, case investigator.

The one thing he can't go without wearing, though, is his cologne, no matter how many nights he has to stay in the office.

ASP Wee said: 'It freshens me up, and keeps me awake.'