A better approach to handle terrorism

There were long queues at the causeway and the second link during the holiday season. More people were travelling by car to Malaysia. The Singapore authorities also introduced "heightened security checks" as a counter terrorism measure, following the Paris terrorist attack. Each motorist has to spend about 3 hours in the traffic jam.

I consider the method of "heightened security checks" to be primitive. Apart from causing the massive jams and inconvenience to many tens of thousand motorists, it is probably ineffective in stopping arms or undesired terrorists from entering Singapore. The terrorists would be able to find better ways to get around these "heightened security measures".

A better approach is for the police to use modern technology to combat these terrorists. They can use intelligence to identify the potential terrorists and to observe them closely. They can move to nab them when the evidence confirm their action.

An example of this kind of action is the recent arrest of the plotters by the Australian authorities. Link to article.

Here is another example from France. Link to article.

Our authorities can use modern communication and surveillance tools and connection to the people through the social media to do their work. We should train investigators and detectives as professionals in ground work, rather than deal with problems behind a desk.

It is time for our police to upgrade their competence.