Because of my job I had been to Singapore and had stayed there for close to two years. Singapore is indeed a remarkable country; it is indeed a first world oasis surrounded by third world countries as the father of modern Singapore has remarked.
Anyone who would have visited the country would agree that it is an extremely safe and secured city state with a very tight administration. But still I had seen notice boards put by the police at many places mentioning "Singapore is a Low crime city but not a No crime city".
In light of the recent unfortunate incident which took place at Salt Lake Sector V, I find the sayings on that notice board in Singapore to be fitting in the context of Kolkata as well. Based upon newspaper reports what I could understand is that the victim after finishing work around midnight took an app cab and arrived at Sector V from where she was kidnapped; the spot from where the victim was kidnapped near RDB Boulevard I had visited the day before the incident for a movie show. Thankfully this time, unlike what happened during the Park Street incident, there was no intervention or loose comments from the political leadership. Police swung into quick action and within a week the culprits are nabbed; victim performed the identification parade yesterday. Surprisingly the criminals were blue collar workers, drivers and security guards.
Since the incident there has been demands of more effective police patrol and installation of CCTV cameras at many more points; incidentally in nabbing the culprits in this case as well the CCTV footage played an important role. There is no denying the fact that more effective policing is required; I was amazed to know that the Sector V police chowki had only 11 police personnel as reported in the Times of India. But all of these are mostly reactive measures. The CCTV footage can surely not be monitored real time 24*7. The footage would turn out to be useful once the incident has happened but it in itself cannot deter the incident. Police patrolling on the other hand can definitely go a long way in preventing criminal activities but still we must accept that there would be gaps which a shrewd criminal mind can readily exploit.
But how we can nip the crime in the bud?
The other day I had come across an interesting article in Business World (The Mind Test, Vol 35 Issue 21). It spoke about how modern organisations are putting CXO level candidates through psychometric tests and interviews to gauge their psychological fitness for the position. Through these tests the psychologist tries to understand hidden patterns in brain to explore intangibles such as drive, perseverance, ability to inspire and lead people, tolerance for ambiguity, strategic thinking, creativity, problem solving style, decisiveness and many others. After clearing the normal technical and HR rounds, candidates now need to clear this additional hurdle.
Can we not have such a psychometric testing introduced for the blue collar workers as well? I believe psychometric tests can be devised to explore hidden criminal patterns in the brain, if any, and that could be followed by the necessary counselling and monitoring. This, if can be effectively done with a certain percentage of success, can surely help to proactively reduce crime.
The other approach to proactively reduce the crime takes me back to first paragraph of this write up; the board I had seen in Singapore. We must all understand that no amount of heavy punishment levied on the perpetrator can roll back what the victim has suffered at the hands of the perpetrator. A life lost, the moments of trauma, torture, a wound nothing can be reversed no matter how much we ostracize the criminals. The CCTV cameras, the police patrol could only be useful to an extent but the other part has to be filled up by an educated sense of security on the part of citizens. We all live in a free country and we enjoy our freedom but so do the person who wants to commit the crime.
The other day I heard a RJ say over FM that he can leave the studio anytime at night but not his female colleagues. But can he really be safe if he leaves the studio any time at night? I had one of my friend mugged at knife-point around 5 AM in the morning; he was going to catch a train.
? So lets care for our own safety and the safety of our family members. Because no matter how hard we try, time can never be reversed.
As the moto of Crime Patrol (a popular show on Sony) goes Be Alert Be Secure.
Anyone who would have visited the country would agree that it is an extremely safe and secured city state with a very tight administration. But still I had seen notice boards put by the police at many places mentioning "Singapore is a Low crime city but not a No crime city".
In light of the recent unfortunate incident which took place at Salt Lake Sector V, I find the sayings on that notice board in Singapore to be fitting in the context of Kolkata as well. Based upon newspaper reports what I could understand is that the victim after finishing work around midnight took an app cab and arrived at Sector V from where she was kidnapped; the spot from where the victim was kidnapped near RDB Boulevard I had visited the day before the incident for a movie show. Thankfully this time, unlike what happened during the Park Street incident, there was no intervention or loose comments from the political leadership. Police swung into quick action and within a week the culprits are nabbed; victim performed the identification parade yesterday. Surprisingly the criminals were blue collar workers, drivers and security guards.
Since the incident there has been demands of more effective police patrol and installation of CCTV cameras at many more points; incidentally in nabbing the culprits in this case as well the CCTV footage played an important role. There is no denying the fact that more effective policing is required; I was amazed to know that the Sector V police chowki had only 11 police personnel as reported in the Times of India. But all of these are mostly reactive measures. The CCTV footage can surely not be monitored real time 24*7. The footage would turn out to be useful once the incident has happened but it in itself cannot deter the incident. Police patrolling on the other hand can definitely go a long way in preventing criminal activities but still we must accept that there would be gaps which a shrewd criminal mind can readily exploit.
But how we can nip the crime in the bud?
The other day I had come across an interesting article in Business World (The Mind Test, Vol 35 Issue 21). It spoke about how modern organisations are putting CXO level candidates through psychometric tests and interviews to gauge their psychological fitness for the position. Through these tests the psychologist tries to understand hidden patterns in brain to explore intangibles such as drive, perseverance, ability to inspire and lead people, tolerance for ambiguity, strategic thinking, creativity, problem solving style, decisiveness and many others. After clearing the normal technical and HR rounds, candidates now need to clear this additional hurdle.
Can we not have such a psychometric testing introduced for the blue collar workers as well? I believe psychometric tests can be devised to explore hidden criminal patterns in the brain, if any, and that could be followed by the necessary counselling and monitoring. This, if can be effectively done with a certain percentage of success, can surely help to proactively reduce crime.
The other approach to proactively reduce the crime takes me back to first paragraph of this write up; the board I had seen in Singapore. We must all understand that no amount of heavy punishment levied on the perpetrator can roll back what the victim has suffered at the hands of the perpetrator. A life lost, the moments of trauma, torture, a wound nothing can be reversed no matter how much we ostracize the criminals. The CCTV cameras, the police patrol could only be useful to an extent but the other part has to be filled up by an educated sense of security on the part of citizens. We all live in a free country and we enjoy our freedom but so do the person who wants to commit the crime.
The other day I heard a RJ say over FM that he can leave the studio anytime at night but not his female colleagues. But can he really be safe if he leaves the studio any time at night? I had one of my friend mugged at knife-point around 5 AM in the morning; he was going to catch a train.
? So lets care for our own safety and the safety of our family members. Because no matter how hard we try, time can never be reversed.
As the moto of Crime Patrol (a popular show on Sony) goes Be Alert Be Secure.
