<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Horror Lifts
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Litter, urine, graffiti - can CCTVs stop anti-social acts? </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Tan Weizhen & Kimberly Spykerman
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Lost a pair of undies? A resident must have thought this is an ingenious way to return the underwear to its rightful owner - by taping it to the wall of this lift in Ang Mo Kio. -- PHOTOS: STOMP
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A RIDE in a lift may take only a minute or two, but it is time enough for an array of 'lift crimes' to happen.
Urinating, defecating, vomiting, littering and vandalism are just some acts which irk residents in Housing Board estates.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Crimes up in lifts
PEOPLE do not just commit anti-social behaviour in lifts - but crimes as well.
In the first six months of this year, there were 174 cases of serious crime in lifts, compared to 146 in the same period last year. The most common types of lift crimes are robberies, snatch thefts and outraging of modesty cases.
Foul findings
HUMAN WASTE
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The Straits Times spoke to 100 residents from Jurong, Bedok, Potong Pasir, Yishun, Sembawang, Queenstown and Ang Mo Kio, who said they encounter the results of uncivic behaviour at least thrice a week or even daily in the lifts.
Town councils have declared war on this anti-social behaviour. Sembawang Town Council, for example, plans to spend $700,000 on closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems in 1,800 lifts in its estates by March.
Deputy general manager Soh Chor Yin said it is hoped the CCTVs will deter those who scrawl graffiti, damage public property, litter and urinate there.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) has also teamed up with town councils to conduct stake-outs to catch and prosecute, for example, those who smoke in lifts.
It commits manpower to these stake-outs in problem areas, based on CCTV footage and information from residents about when, where and by whom these offences are committed.
Such watch-and-wait exercises have caught culprits leaving the lift with lighted cigarettes in hand.
Urine detectors have also identified offenders, whose details are handed over to the NEA.
East Coast Town Council, for example, nabbed some lift vandals last month with help from the police and its CCTVs.
The NEA said that last year, 65 people were prosecuted for smoking and urinating in HDB lifts. Its figure for littering in lifts is unavailable.
But feedback The Straits Times got from residents and all 16 town councils is that these 65 are just the tip of the iceberg.
Town councils said they do not keep statistics on lift offences but, going by the number of complaints from residents regarding soiled lifts, the number of culprits far exceeds 65 a year.
One staff member from Sembawang Town Council said it is difficult to catch offenders based solely on video footage, as the culprits would have long made their escape - especially if they do not live there - and it is even harder for lifts without CCTVs.
Even those identified through CCTV footage are let off with a warning and counselling. They are turned over to the NEA and the police only if they ignore the warning.
The solution, it would seem, lies in public education. Some town councils work with the NEA to go door to door to remind residents to be more civic-minded.
But the problem persists.
Cleaner Chen Hui Ling, 50, said: 'Food and drink packets litter the lift in my block very often, because people buy them at the shop beside it. Students also scrawl on the lift walls.'
Then there are those who leave almost-full cans of coffee on the railings lining the walls of the lift.
Mr V. Kumaran, a 55-year-old supervisor, said: 'They either fall or spill when the lift moves. It's so inconsiderate!'
Smoking in the lift is also a bugbear to him and, it appears, to residents from all estates who were interviewed.
Ms Faith Ong, 32, who is unemployed, said: 'When people smoke in the lift, I will get out and wait for the next one because it's really very smelly.'
Other less common lift offences include the wheeling of bicycles and even motorbikes into already-crowded lifts, and those who take large dogs in. Scrawling on lift walls by loan sharks is another problem.
MPs believe public education is cheaper and more effective than CCTV, the installation of which may translate into higher maintenance costs and conservancy fees for residents.
Said MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol Michael Palmer, who receives daily complaints from his constituents about anti-social behaviour in lifts: 'CCTVs are great to have, but they also have their limitations.'
Cost aside, he explained, there is also the question of whether the infrastructure of HDB estates can support the day-to-day running of effective CCTV systems.
Madam Halimah Yacob, an MP for Jurong GRC, agreed, saying improvements in civic-consciousness are more long-term.
Sociologist Paulin Straughan said people commit anti-social acts either to shock and therefore gain negative public attention, or because they can get away with it.
She supports setting up groups of 'social police', made up of members of the community who are vocal about their displeasure, rather than to have to resort to CCTV or the police.
Most people want social acceptability, so if the culprits are told off every time they offend, the public humiliation may be strong enough to enforce conformity, she said.
Mr E.J. Ong, 50, is all for residents stepping up to take action against the recalcitrants. What he sees in the lift each time he enters one disgusts him.
'Unfortunately, I live on the seventh floor. If I lived on the third or fourth, I would definitely take the stairs.'
[email protected] [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Litter, urine, graffiti - can CCTVs stop anti-social acts? </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Tan Weizhen & Kimberly Spykerman
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Lost a pair of undies? A resident must have thought this is an ingenious way to return the underwear to its rightful owner - by taping it to the wall of this lift in Ang Mo Kio. -- PHOTOS: STOMP
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A RIDE in a lift may take only a minute or two, but it is time enough for an array of 'lift crimes' to happen.
Urinating, defecating, vomiting, littering and vandalism are just some acts which irk residents in Housing Board estates.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Crimes up in lifts
PEOPLE do not just commit anti-social behaviour in lifts - but crimes as well.
In the first six months of this year, there were 174 cases of serious crime in lifts, compared to 146 in the same period last year. The most common types of lift crimes are robberies, snatch thefts and outraging of modesty cases.
Foul findings
HUMAN WASTE
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The Straits Times spoke to 100 residents from Jurong, Bedok, Potong Pasir, Yishun, Sembawang, Queenstown and Ang Mo Kio, who said they encounter the results of uncivic behaviour at least thrice a week or even daily in the lifts.
Town councils have declared war on this anti-social behaviour. Sembawang Town Council, for example, plans to spend $700,000 on closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems in 1,800 lifts in its estates by March.
Deputy general manager Soh Chor Yin said it is hoped the CCTVs will deter those who scrawl graffiti, damage public property, litter and urinate there.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) has also teamed up with town councils to conduct stake-outs to catch and prosecute, for example, those who smoke in lifts.
It commits manpower to these stake-outs in problem areas, based on CCTV footage and information from residents about when, where and by whom these offences are committed.
Such watch-and-wait exercises have caught culprits leaving the lift with lighted cigarettes in hand.
Urine detectors have also identified offenders, whose details are handed over to the NEA.
East Coast Town Council, for example, nabbed some lift vandals last month with help from the police and its CCTVs.
The NEA said that last year, 65 people were prosecuted for smoking and urinating in HDB lifts. Its figure for littering in lifts is unavailable.
But feedback The Straits Times got from residents and all 16 town councils is that these 65 are just the tip of the iceberg.
Town councils said they do not keep statistics on lift offences but, going by the number of complaints from residents regarding soiled lifts, the number of culprits far exceeds 65 a year.
One staff member from Sembawang Town Council said it is difficult to catch offenders based solely on video footage, as the culprits would have long made their escape - especially if they do not live there - and it is even harder for lifts without CCTVs.
Even those identified through CCTV footage are let off with a warning and counselling. They are turned over to the NEA and the police only if they ignore the warning.
The solution, it would seem, lies in public education. Some town councils work with the NEA to go door to door to remind residents to be more civic-minded.
But the problem persists.
Cleaner Chen Hui Ling, 50, said: 'Food and drink packets litter the lift in my block very often, because people buy them at the shop beside it. Students also scrawl on the lift walls.'
Then there are those who leave almost-full cans of coffee on the railings lining the walls of the lift.
Mr V. Kumaran, a 55-year-old supervisor, said: 'They either fall or spill when the lift moves. It's so inconsiderate!'
Smoking in the lift is also a bugbear to him and, it appears, to residents from all estates who were interviewed.
Ms Faith Ong, 32, who is unemployed, said: 'When people smoke in the lift, I will get out and wait for the next one because it's really very smelly.'
Other less common lift offences include the wheeling of bicycles and even motorbikes into already-crowded lifts, and those who take large dogs in. Scrawling on lift walls by loan sharks is another problem.
MPs believe public education is cheaper and more effective than CCTV, the installation of which may translate into higher maintenance costs and conservancy fees for residents.
Said MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol Michael Palmer, who receives daily complaints from his constituents about anti-social behaviour in lifts: 'CCTVs are great to have, but they also have their limitations.'
Cost aside, he explained, there is also the question of whether the infrastructure of HDB estates can support the day-to-day running of effective CCTV systems.
Madam Halimah Yacob, an MP for Jurong GRC, agreed, saying improvements in civic-consciousness are more long-term.
Sociologist Paulin Straughan said people commit anti-social acts either to shock and therefore gain negative public attention, or because they can get away with it.
She supports setting up groups of 'social police', made up of members of the community who are vocal about their displeasure, rather than to have to resort to CCTV or the police.
Most people want social acceptability, so if the culprits are told off every time they offend, the public humiliation may be strong enough to enforce conformity, she said.
Mr E.J. Ong, 50, is all for residents stepping up to take action against the recalcitrants. What he sees in the lift each time he enters one disgusts him.
'Unfortunately, I live on the seventh floor. If I lived on the third or fourth, I would definitely take the stairs.'
[email protected] [email protected]
