Yes,this type of "security procedure" acts as a deterrent. It serves to put would be "bad" people on their toes, including drug traffickers.
Its not fool proof. No system is. Terrorism will forever be with us. There are behind the scene intelligence and these will alert us to possible attacks. Meanwhile, the troublesome checks will have to continue.
Nowadays, trying to smuggle explosives and weapons thru airports, habours and causeways is such a low-winning probability effort. Same also for hijacking airplanes. Due to very high level of surveillance at these obvious places.
Most terrorist, if they want to cause max damage will focus on local / home-base soft targets like MRT during rush hours, or crowded food courts in shopping centres on weekends. How many of us will bother with a couple of guys wearing backpacks on a normal day? And they most prob appear to be walking separately and coming from different directions, but synchronised to set off explosives at a certain time.
The master planners just need to figure out how to get the necessary materials into the local territory; obviously not thru the standard airports/habours/causeways. If Mas Salamat can smuggle himself out of the country with SAF & SPF all looking for him, you can bet that there are ways to get stuff into the country as well.
I learned many years ago as a production supervisor, that you cannot "inspect" quality into your production process. That is to say, inspecting all (or 100%) of your products will not ensure a quality product.
A quality product starts with a good production process. You then monitor to ensure that your production process is stable by using "statistical quality control." Nowadays, this is called Motorola's 6-sigma process.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma
Six Sigma's implicit goal is to produce long-term defect levels below 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO).
I'll leave you the reader to figure out how the above concepts can be applied to airport security.
But Mr Tan is correct to question the effectiveness of these security checks.
To use that Mas Selamat example.
What's the point of the 100% visual inspection of all cars entering into Singapore?
Did not a minister say that Singapore has such a long coast line that makes it impossible to police?
Get the idea?
The 100% visual inspection of all cars entering Singapore may politically save your job as a Security Chief. It looks like you are trying or managing the security problem on a best-effort basis.
But the elephant-in-the-room is really our allegedly "long and difficult to secure coast-line.
But until MM Lee points out the obvious, I doubt if any Singaporean will see this elephant-in-the-room.
Just like our "Mandarin as a second language problem." Until MM Lee pointed it out, our intrepid Singapore investigative reporters did not seem to realize that we have been having a problem for more than 20 years.
But after MM Lee says it is a problem, then suddenly we have this huge deluge of news on the subject. Suddenly we see the elephant-in-the room.
Wah Lau eh!!!
Phua Chu Kang sums it up very well: "Use your blain, use your blain!"
Ha! ha! Yeah! so true!.. after MM Lee spoke, everyone seems to have the knowledge and the words and phrases such as "zero sum", " clever by half", "hobson's choice".. become so popular and the rage. Hah!
Its true too about security and thought process here. Many just do their job and are so task orientated that they miss the wood for the trees.
A sort of template if you will is applied to all scenarios. Its pure good fortune that nothing disastrous has not happened... yet.
i have another experience to share. recently I went with my family for a vacation at HK. I was singled out and was ushered to a waiting area for immigration clearance at the HK ferry terminal. The customs officer wanted to do a luggage and body search (which requires me to strip down to my underwear). I flatly refused the body search without valid reasons. After 'negotiation', a fully clothed body search was done. No specific reasons were given other than it is routine and normal for visitors of HK. My family has to wait for 2 hours at the terminal. In the end, I was given a 7 day visa while my family has the usual 90 days. I wonder if I was simply unlucky or I was not welcome in HK. I also wonder what rights I can exercise at the HK customs. This was my first visit to HK.
Yes,this type of "security procedure"
ReplyDeleteacts as a deterrent. It serves to put would be "bad" people on their toes, including drug traffickers.
Its not fool proof. No system is.
Terrorism will forever be with us.
There are behind the scene intelligence and these will alert us to possible attacks. Meanwhile, the troublesome checks will have to continue.
Nowadays, trying to smuggle explosives and weapons thru airports, habours and causeways is such a low-winning probability effort. Same also for hijacking airplanes. Due to very high level of surveillance at these obvious places.
ReplyDeleteMost terrorist, if they want to cause max damage will focus on local / home-base soft targets like MRT during rush hours, or crowded food courts in shopping centres on weekends. How many of us will bother with a couple of guys wearing backpacks on a normal day? And they most prob appear to be walking separately and coming from different directions, but synchronised to set off explosives at a certain time.
The master planners just need to figure out how to get the necessary materials into the local territory; obviously not thru the standard airports/habours/causeways. If Mas Salamat can smuggle himself out of the country with SAF & SPF all looking for him, you can bet that there are ways to get stuff into the country as well.
I learned many years ago as a production supervisor, that you cannot "inspect" quality into your production process. That is to say, inspecting all (or 100%) of your products will not ensure a quality product.
ReplyDeleteA quality product starts with a good production process. You then monitor to ensure that your production process is stable by using "statistical quality control." Nowadays, this is called Motorola's 6-sigma process.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma
Six Sigma's implicit goal is to produce long-term defect levels below 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO).
I'll leave you the reader to figure out how the above concepts can be applied to airport security.
But Mr Tan is correct to question the effectiveness of these security checks.
To use that Mas Selamat example.
What's the point of the 100% visual inspection of all cars entering into Singapore?
Did not a minister say that Singapore has such a long coast line that makes it impossible to police?
Get the idea?
The 100% visual inspection of all cars entering Singapore may politically save your job as a Security Chief. It looks like you are trying or managing the security problem on a best-effort basis.
But the elephant-in-the-room is really our allegedly "long and difficult to secure coast-line.
But until MM Lee points out the obvious, I doubt if any Singaporean will see this elephant-in-the-room.
Just like our "Mandarin as a second language problem." Until MM Lee pointed it out, our intrepid Singapore investigative reporters did not seem to realize that we have been having a problem for more than 20 years.
But after MM Lee says it is a problem, then suddenly we have this huge deluge of news on the subject. Suddenly we see the elephant-in-the room.
Wah Lau eh!!!
Phua Chu Kang sums it up very well:
"Use your blain, use your blain!"
Ha! ha! Yeah! so true!.. after MM Lee spoke, everyone seems to have the knowledge and the words and phrases such as "zero sum", " clever by half", "hobson's choice".. become so popular and the rage. Hah!
ReplyDeleteIts true too about security and thought process here. Many just do their job and are so task orientated that they miss the wood for the trees.
A sort of template if you will is applied to all scenarios. Its pure good fortune that nothing disastrous has not happened... yet.
i have another experience to share. recently I went with my family for a vacation at HK. I was singled out and was ushered to a waiting area for immigration clearance at the HK ferry terminal. The customs officer wanted to do a luggage and body search (which requires me to strip down to my underwear). I flatly refused the body search without valid reasons. After 'negotiation', a fully clothed body search was done. No specific reasons were given other than it is routine and normal for visitors of HK. My family has to wait for 2 hours at the terminal. In the end, I was given a 7 day visa while my family has the usual 90 days.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if I was simply unlucky or I was not welcome in HK. I also wonder what rights I can exercise at the HK customs. This was my first visit to HK.