Another Peeping Tom in NTU on the First Day of May 2019

You would think that with the Monica Baey incident and more peeping toms getting caught, peeping-tom-to-be would lay down a bit and resort to adult videos instead.

Nope.

If anything it seems like the copycat crime effect seems to be taking place since yet another incident happened in Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Third Case in Three Weeks

Slight recap: There was one case on 17 April where a 22-year-old undergraduate filmed a female student, and then another on 21 April where a 19-year-old guy who was caught filming another guy showering.

This is the third in three weeks and it happened on the third storey of Hall 4 in Block 22, at about 10.15pm on May 1 in the women’s toilet.

Red Chair Aids Criminal

Just a few days earlier, students noticed a red stool near the toilet, which was believed to be the criminal tool for the culprit.

That a stool, of all things, being mentioned probably means that there isn’t much other evidence.

Or perhaps the information isn’t being reported, as investigations are still being held.

Me though, I like to put on my tin foil hat. Without an actual criminal yet, I want to think that this is a conspiracy for security companies to sell more products.

Strengthening Toilet Security

Key fobs are a recent addition to NTU female toilets, in an attempt for additional security measures to prevent more peeping incidents.

Well, of course, it’s not only the toilets that have added security. There are CCTVs in common areas, and Campus security officers are patrolling the residential halls.

In response to handling voyeurism on campus, NTU said that it held a zero-tolerance stance against sexual harassment. Its policies and procedures for harassment had been strengthened in January and there are also plans for anti-harassment online modules in July to be implemented in its orientation programmes.

In other words, not getting caught probably meant that the person peeping this time was a pretty good criminal.

NUS Security is Upgrading too

Of course, it’s not like NUS isn’t doing anything. NUS is also introducing the following measures:

• Placing at least 300 new cameras, by end June
• Upgrading more than 860 shower cubicles, which also covers gaps in cubicles, by early October
• Introducing roving security patrols
• Installing new electronic locks in restrooms that requires the use of a transponder to open, by end June
• Allowing residents access only the restrooms of their gender, though not sure what of students outside the gender binary

At this rate, I really wonder if toilets will become more secure than most office buildings. All it takes is a few more peeping toms cases and we can start using toilets as bank vaults.