CCTV overkill? Toa Payoh

[JR8]

Coming here from London I was quite refreshed by the apparent lack of CCTV cameras seemingly everywhere.

But I got a shock about 6 months ago, when coming out of Toa Payoh MRT (Exit D, opposite the big church they're rebuilding), they had just installed 17 new cameras!

They are in pods of circa 6 each about 1.5m apart in a row under the canopy at the street exit. Coming up the escalator a day or two later, I noticed that there were already 3-4 older cameras there in addition, so that is over 20 in total. I have never seen anything like it anywhere else in the world.

The thing I don't get, is Exit D had to be the lowest profile side-street exit from that MRT, just by a half built church and HDB blocks.

Any ideas why they might put so many cameras in one place in this way?

[sundaymorningstaple]

LKY's favourite book in University was George Orwell's 1984?

The whole island is becoming over CCTV'd primarily due to the so-called JI targeting of the Yishun MRT station several years ago. This country is very paranoid especially as they let a well known JI terrorist escape the country. Not once but twice they let Mat Salamat escape. Guess that's why Malaysia is keeping him under lock and key there and letting Singapore have access to him there.

Start a big rumour! The rock caverns being dug under Kent ridge are being used as a massive data accumulation centre where a dossier of every man, woman & child will be stored from birth to death. You think that they micro manage now? They are heading to "The Truman Show" I think.

[Strong Eagle]

The gahmen needs to be careful with these cameras. Sure, I suppose they increase security.

But, it destroys the perception of Singapore as a safe country. Why would a safe country need all this surveillance? Could destroy the tourist and other world image.

[JR8]

You know the only thing that crossed my mind is that is that all other MRT exits emerge with the HUB, and I bet there are a stack of cameras in that whole vicinity, even if they are more discreet.

Yeah I knew about Mas Selamat, tho hadn't realised he'd escaped twice (Keystone cops? ). No wonder Malaysia are hanging onto him

Didn't know JI tried to bomb Yishun MRT... Maybe JI know there are facial recognition cameras in the all the key/more central stations, so they went for a suburb.

There's all kinds of interesting things here on comms, like auto-keyword-recognition on all phone calls. Anyway I better leave it there before there is a knock at the door

[JR8]

URL CENSORED DUE TO COPYRIGHT ISSUES
[Edit: <Sigh> Ok, cut and paste the following into a Google image search 'Toa payoh CCTV stomp ' - it is the first image in the grid of thumbnails returned]

Googled it, and here we are. There is another pod just missed off the picture on the left. There are 17 on those three pods... I counted them!

See I wasn't joking about OTT!

[nakatago]

read somewhere that CCTV's don't actually deter crimes; they just make criminals do their thing outside the camera range. verified or not, something to think about.


also, in before THE EYE OF SAURON.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yeah I knew about Mas Selamat, tho hadn't realised he'd escaped twice (Keystone cops? ). No wonder Malaysia are hanging onto him

Didn't know JI tried to bomb Yishun MRT... Maybe JI know there are facial recognition cameras in the all the key/more central stations, so they went for a suburb.

The first time, he wasn't behind bars but was targeted in the original Swoop and detain of the first batch of JI suspects here. He escaped and was caught in Indonesia, who, thinking Singapore knew what they were doing, let them have him. Folly that turned out to be. Second time is pretty well documented that security was a joke at that facility.

They didn't try to bomb it, but they took oll kinds of surveillance photos of the station as one of a number of plans targets in the future.

[yoongf]

Those pods of CCTV are the face recognition ones, similar to those used at the Beijing Olympics.

[beppi]

I've also seen this camera mania at Toa Payoh and joked that they must have been cheaper in bulk.
Seriously, a camera is of any use only if someone (machines aren't good at it - yet) is watching the pic. I very much doubt that they do have so many employees in front of screens. It's just complete nonsense having these cameras (especially as several of the are looking at almost the same scene from almost the same angle)!

[Loops]

maybe they are testing them ready for use elsewhere.

It doesn't actually bother me and I'm sure those who have to watch them for their job don't sit there looking at everyone if they're just going about their business normally - that's not who they are interested in.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yeah, I heard that they were mainly to catch opposition member handing out flyers without a permit again seeing as how they are redrawing the boundaries again.

[JR8]

Snort!

[aster]

Why would a safe country need all this surveillance? Could destroy the tourist and other world image.

I'd say that the overall perception of cameras is that they make the general public feel safe. Personally I have nothing against them. They can't be of any harm and locating any particular individual can be done much more easily via that convenient little gadget also known as the mobile phone...

As for Selamat, do you guys really think that he escaped? From the very outset this seemed like a "controlled release," probably to see where he went, who helped him out at every stage, who else is involved, etc. Of course most agencies would never be informed about this, so increased border checks and the ensuing tightening of security would take place anyway. But think about it: guy escapes... twice, gets caught yet again... of course we would never hear about the additional arrests that such an operation would generate.

[JR8]

Oh conspiracy theories. The tiring thing with them is that as they have no factual basis, it is impossible to disprove them.

SG police etc. came out of that looking like total losers. Do you think that was a part of the SG plan too?

Malaysia proudly holding him (and not letting him escape), those low down bhumis, was that a part of the SG plan too?

In my experience letting major terrorist prisoners run away, is not 'exactly' standard practise.

My suggestion: Get real man. Occams's Razor suggests the simplest explanation is invariably the right one.

[aster]

Oh, right...

So one of the most high-profile, ultra top-security prisoners got away? Yeeaahhh, sure. TWICE? Yeahhh, now I'm really having a laugh...