<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Pointless having a school alarm if official response is so slow
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->ON TUESDAY at about 3am, the burglar alarm at Yangzheng Primary School in Serangoon Avenue 3 was activated. It went on for at least an hour. Realising no one was coming to deactivate it, I called the police.
The police arrived within 15 minutes and went to the school gate to find it locked. A second police vehicle arrived and the officers discussed their next course of action. Apparently, they tried to call the school staff. Someone from the school arrived 40 minutes after the arrival of the first police patrol car. It took them about 15 minutes to deactivate the alarm.
The total time taken for the neighbourhood to regain peace and precious lost sleep: More than two hours.
This incident revealed two major flaws in the security system.
First, what is the point of having a burglar alarm if it is triggered but there is no action by the police or officials responsible for the premises to investigate the cause?
Second, if the police needed to wait 40 minutes for someone from the school to arrive and open the gate, any would-be burglar would have plenty of time to escape.
If no improvement can be made, it is better to deactivate all burglar alarms in locked premises so the neighbourhood can enjoy a good night's sleep.
Peh Jin Kai
<!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><!-- Current Ratings : end --><!-- vbbintegration : start -->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->ON TUESDAY at about 3am, the burglar alarm at Yangzheng Primary School in Serangoon Avenue 3 was activated. It went on for at least an hour. Realising no one was coming to deactivate it, I called the police.
The police arrived within 15 minutes and went to the school gate to find it locked. A second police vehicle arrived and the officers discussed their next course of action. Apparently, they tried to call the school staff. Someone from the school arrived 40 minutes after the arrival of the first police patrol car. It took them about 15 minutes to deactivate the alarm.
The total time taken for the neighbourhood to regain peace and precious lost sleep: More than two hours.
This incident revealed two major flaws in the security system.
First, what is the point of having a burglar alarm if it is triggered but there is no action by the police or officials responsible for the premises to investigate the cause?
Second, if the police needed to wait 40 minutes for someone from the school to arrive and open the gate, any would-be burglar would have plenty of time to escape.
If no improvement can be made, it is better to deactivate all burglar alarms in locked premises so the neighbourhood can enjoy a good night's sleep.
Peh Jin Kai
<!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><!-- Current Ratings : end --><!-- vbbintegration : start -->