<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Oct 4, 2008
MANPOWER CRUNCH IN POLICING
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Why not recruit men from Nepal?
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Jams like these are common at the Causeway and Tuas checkpoints, and similar to Wednesday's Hari Raya crawl described by reader Ravi Govindan, because policing resources are stretched. -- FILE PHOTO/THE STRAITS TIMES
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IT WAS obvious that the jam on both sides of the Singapore-Malaysia crossings at Woodlands and Tuas was excruciating on Hari Raya Wednesday - and it need not have been so if manpower was not sorely lacking.
At the Causeway checkpoint, the officer checking the boot of my car was so tired, he could hardly keep his eyes open, let alone whip up the energy to check my bags. When I pointed out that he had written down the wrong number of people in my car, he apologised and said he was tired and had been on his feet too long. This happens not only at such land checkpoints but at other international exit points as well.
On returning via the Tuas checkpoint, it took an hour and 25 minutes for me to reach the immigration booth from a distance of only 500m. Because no officers were tasked to check queue jumpers, the latter had a field day endangering law-abiding drivers by butting into their lanes and slowing traffic to a standstill for long periods. My sympathies are with the tired officers who must work extended hours, and my concern is about our obviously strapped policing-related personnel.
I am also reminded about the recent flurry of Forum letters discussing the difficulty in recruiting and keeping officers in the police force, as well as its auxiliary arms, Certis Cisco and Aetos.
Two consequences come to mind.
First, the Singapore-Malaysia land checkpoints are unnecessarily jammed, like on Hari Raya Wednesday, because policing resources are stretched in the current security climate. As figures from the authorities themselves suggest, the amount of overtime clocked is staggering because of the manpower crunch.
Second, tackling soft crime, ranging from anti-social acts to rowdy foreign workers, is forced to take a back seat, as the police suggested in a reply when they said that tackling serious crime and terrorist activity must take precedence in allocation of resources.
A solution to these problems is to look for dependable, non-traditional sources of manpower. Rather than rely only on Malaysia, we should consider training and recruiting policemen from Nepal.
Why Nepal? The first obvious reason is that the Gurkhas, who are from that country, are a tried, reassuring and dependable blanket of security.
The second is that, because the Nepalese are not involved in regional politics, they are likely to be more objective in carrying out their work.
The police, Certis Cisco and Aetos could perhaps start with a pilot project by contracting 1,000 Nepalese recruits. Ravi Govindan
MANPOWER CRUNCH IN POLICING
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Why not recruit men from Nepal?
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Jams like these are common at the Causeway and Tuas checkpoints, and similar to Wednesday's Hari Raya crawl described by reader Ravi Govindan, because policing resources are stretched. -- FILE PHOTO/THE STRAITS TIMES
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IT WAS obvious that the jam on both sides of the Singapore-Malaysia crossings at Woodlands and Tuas was excruciating on Hari Raya Wednesday - and it need not have been so if manpower was not sorely lacking.
At the Causeway checkpoint, the officer checking the boot of my car was so tired, he could hardly keep his eyes open, let alone whip up the energy to check my bags. When I pointed out that he had written down the wrong number of people in my car, he apologised and said he was tired and had been on his feet too long. This happens not only at such land checkpoints but at other international exit points as well.
On returning via the Tuas checkpoint, it took an hour and 25 minutes for me to reach the immigration booth from a distance of only 500m. Because no officers were tasked to check queue jumpers, the latter had a field day endangering law-abiding drivers by butting into their lanes and slowing traffic to a standstill for long periods. My sympathies are with the tired officers who must work extended hours, and my concern is about our obviously strapped policing-related personnel.
I am also reminded about the recent flurry of Forum letters discussing the difficulty in recruiting and keeping officers in the police force, as well as its auxiliary arms, Certis Cisco and Aetos.
Two consequences come to mind.
First, the Singapore-Malaysia land checkpoints are unnecessarily jammed, like on Hari Raya Wednesday, because policing resources are stretched in the current security climate. As figures from the authorities themselves suggest, the amount of overtime clocked is staggering because of the manpower crunch.
Second, tackling soft crime, ranging from anti-social acts to rowdy foreign workers, is forced to take a back seat, as the police suggested in a reply when they said that tackling serious crime and terrorist activity must take precedence in allocation of resources.
A solution to these problems is to look for dependable, non-traditional sources of manpower. Rather than rely only on Malaysia, we should consider training and recruiting policemen from Nepal.
Why Nepal? The first obvious reason is that the Gurkhas, who are from that country, are a tried, reassuring and dependable blanket of security.
The second is that, because the Nepalese are not involved in regional politics, they are likely to be more objective in carrying out their work.
The police, Certis Cisco and Aetos could perhaps start with a pilot project by contracting 1,000 Nepalese recruits. Ravi Govindan
