Police Explains Why There’s a Need for Over 200K Police Cameras by 2030

By
Tan Shi Hui
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One of the things that Singapore is known for besides our clean streets and ban for the sales of chewing gum is our security.

Although the placement of various police cameras around our tiny island made us feel like Big Brother is watching us all the time, we cannot deny that the camera did aid in solving crimes around Singapore.

From capturing finding criminals to finding a missing person, these cameras are known to do great things. That’s why the number of police cameras islandwide will increase from 90,000 to 200,000 by 2030.

You must be thinking: What, 200,000? Isn’t that overkill? Is the police going to put these cameras in the toilet as well? No, certain unholy NUS students have that covered.

Instead, these new sets of cameras will help solve more cases around Singapore.

Police Explains Why There’s a Need for Over 200K Police Cameras by 2030

Previously, with the 90,000 police cameras around Singapore, missing person cases, assault cases and more were solved in a short period of time.

However, some of the other criminals still get away scot-free because of the lack of cameras in various parts of Singapore.

Thus, more of these police cameras will be installed gradually in neighbourhood centres, hawker centres, commercial and entertainment districts.

Invasion of Privacy

I know what you’re thinking: It’s starting to feel like you’re in Big Brother’s world right? What about our privacy?

Well, as for the concern for the need for privacy, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam touched on that issue in Parliament a few months ago.

He said that those claims overlooked the fact that the general population wants to live in a safe and secure space. In short, you have two choices:

  1. Not have cameras around and have criminals roam free
  2. Install 200,000 cameras so that crimes will not go unnoticed.

Although 200,000 cameras seemed like a lot, these cameras do not cover the whole of Singapore. These cameras are only enough to cover public spaces within the field of view. Privates spaces will still remain private and free of cameras.

Additionally, only authorised personnel are allowed to watch these footages. Those that want to KPO and watch these footages for fun will be dealt with severely.

Crimes Caught on Camera

In case you’re still skeptical about the need for more cameras around Singapore, here are some solved cases thanks to the police cameras that we currently have:

  • In April 2020, 10.50pm, a woman with dementia went missing. The cameras at her HDB’s lift lobby captured her “last-seen attire” and the timing of her “last-seen”. After trawling the camera’s footage and tracing her steps, the missing person was found in the eastern part of Singapore, three hours after she was reported missing.
  • In March 2020, an unknown man tried to rob a woman along Bedok North Street 3. The woman shouted for help, causing him to flee without robbing her. Tapping into the nearby footage from the police cameras, the authorities established his identity and arrested him. Apparently, he was involved with a series of attempted robbery cases in the vicinity.

These two cases are among the 5,000 cases that were solved with the help of police cameras around Singapore.

On top of that, the awareness of a police camera in the vicinity also help deter potential crimes around Singapore. Housebreaking cases fell from 74 in 2015 to 32 in 2020, motor vehicle thefts fell by 82.1% and UML-related harassment cases involving damage to an HDB property fell by 67.9% in the same period.

TL;DR Installing more cameras around Singapore helps keep our country safe.

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Tan Shi Hui
Email: [email protected]