Sunday, January 13, 2013

A more sensible approach towards security

When I said that many Singaporeans are paranoid about security, I am not suggesting that security should be abandoned entirely. Only narrow minded people will interpret my statement in this extreme fashion.

We should have security, but must balance between what is necessary and unnecessary, practical and impractical. We must be "more thinking" in our approach and should not implement security blindly.

We face risk in many activities of our life. We are afraid of terrorism in the airplanes, but that is not the only place that a terrorist can strike. They can also strike our mass transit trains, shopping malls, hotels and and restaurants.

We know that it is not possible to do screening of every one in all of these places. Why should the airports or office buildings be the subject of excessive screening?

While terrorism can be a latent threat to Singapore, we must not close our eyes to more imminent threats. With many foreigners in Singapore, and some who are unemployed and in debt, there is a real risk that they may turn to violent crimes to get by. I suspect that these violent crimes are under-reported in the media.

I like to see more policemen on patrol in the streets. I know that the Police Force has difficulty in finding people to work in these jobs, but they have to pay higher salaries in these jobs and get people away from doing other wasteful and unproductive work.

2 comments:

Lye Khuen Way said...

Just on physical security, I would feel more comfortable with more visible presence of police patrols and LTA enforcement on our roads.

Again,as pointed out by Mr Tan, pay and benefits will need go be raised for locals to encourage more to join.
Outsourcing is a security risk itself !

Spur said...

The pay for the uniformed groups i.e. SPF, SCDF, SAF, Prisons is actually very good, much higher than the median pay in both civil service and private sector. If you consider the typical GPA and grades of those who apply for uniformed groups, they will get even lower than median pay if they apply for jobs in civil service or private sector. This is just based on actual cases I have come across, for those who signed on those uniformed groups. Of course those SAF/SPF scholars will be of different breed and different career paths.

The biggest obstacle for hiring is the shift-duties, weekends, public holidays etc. as well as the issue of long-term career possibilities and the question of what transferable skills/similar pay if you become sick of the job or have to leave due to health or forced early retirement etc.

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