The Singapore police force install security cameras in public areas in and around the island. (Image by Dinoman / Shutterstock)

Singapore is the 11th most-surveilled city in the world, according to UK comparison website Comparitech, and 3rd most-surveilled outside of China. According to the rankings released by Comparitech on 15 August based on a study of 120 cities, Chinese cities have some of the highest number of CCTV cameras per person.
In Singapore, Comparitech notes there are about 15.25 cameras per 1,000 people. Following closely was Abu Dhabi (12th place), Chicago (13th place), and Sydney (15th place) with 13.77, 13.05, and 12.35 cameras per 1,000 people respectively.
Even so, those numbers are much smaller compared to the numbers in Chinese cities which make up 8 out of the top 10 most-surveilled cities around the globe.
The city of Chongqing takes the lead with over 2.5 million cameras for 15.3 million people. That’s about 168.03 cameras for every 1,000 people. In a close second was Shenzen followed by Shangai in third with 159.09 and 113.46 cameras per 1,000 people respectively.
The only non-Chinese cities in the top 10 were London in 6th place with 68.40 cameras per 1,000 people and Atlanta, Georgia in 10th place with 15.56 cameras per 1,000 people.

More cameras doesn’t mean better safety or less crime

Curiously, Comparitech noted in its report that there was little correlation between the number of public CCTV cameras and crime or safety.
“A higher number of cameras just barely correlates with a higher safety index and lower crime index. Broadly speaking, more cameras doesn’t necessarily result in people feeling safer,” it said.
Even so, the Singapore government has touted time and again the necessity for CCTV around the island in helping deter crime and increase safety and security, especially relating to road and traffic security.
Since 2014, CCTVs have been gradually deployed island-wide to enforce parking offences along roads where illegal parking is rampant. In 2016, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that they would have about 130 CCTVs operating around Singapore by 2017 to help curb traffic offences.
In July 2018, Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan said that the installed CCTV cameras have proven to effectively reduce illegal parking offences by as must as 90% in certain locations around Singapore.
Apart from traffic offences, the police have also pushed to have cameras in every HDB block. In 2016, the Straits Times noted that 11,000 cameras will be installed over the next four years, on top of the 65,000 police cameras that will be in place by the end of 2016.
Also in 2016, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugan said that the network of CCTVs will ramp up island-wide surveillance and deter any plots of terror attacks on Singapore.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

林文兴回应韩咏梅《疫情下的选举》

“13、12、14、17、23、47、32。可惜这些不是TOTO真字,而是自选区划分报告公布以来(本月13日),每日新增的确诊病例。” 新加坡民主党财政林文兴遗憾,尽管全球疫情仍严峻,但行动党仍散发应尽快召开选举的论调。 他在昨晚也发现,《海峡时报》翻译华文媒体集团新闻中心总编辑韩咏梅的评论《疫情下的选举》,直呼“世上哪有一家有声誉的媒体,除了吹嘘政治主子的自大方向外,还会去歌颂“疫情下的选举”?” 林文兴认为,任何的功绩都不可能掩盖无可克服的弊端:那就是让公众曝露在交叉感染的风险。 早前,已有多名在野政治人物和公民团体作出呼吁,认为当前全民应专注抗疫,绝不是选举的时机。 总理李显龙在上周六(14日)才在脸书贴文释放信息,指如需要在疫情过去签前选举,需采取必要防疫措施;隔日(15日)韩咏梅就发表评论附和领导人,更指“在大风大浪的时候, 全船人看着同一个大方向,这时,掌舵的人,对手只有风浪和自己。” 在韩咏梅这篇誌期本月15日的评论,她提到: “政府遏制疫情扩大的工作进行中, 加上面向民间的新加坡保洁运动以及保持社交距离, 不让病毒进一步传播,预计一个月后,冠病疫情虽不可能完全消退, 但很可能减弱。如果全球疫情一年内不可能完全消除,…

司徒国辉怒驳环境局论点 “小贩中心租金全球最贵!”

国家环境局发言人称,租金只占小贩运营成本的12巴仙,不能成为小贩调涨食品价格的原因;然而本地美食家司徒国辉驳斥,有关数据缺乏代表性,收集的资料不周全、实际数字和民众消费才是重点等。 “只要看看多少小贩关门大吉、退休,以及新旧小贩低得惊人的替换率,你就会知道我们这种联合国教科文组织级别的小贩文化,正以多快的速度消失中。” 环境局日前在回应一封标题为“确保小贩食品价格合理化”的论坛信件中,呼吁小贩在制定食品价格时,将运营成本、市场竞争和顾客支付能力纳入考量,确保食品价格能够保持合理及可负担。 当局还引述了新加坡环境及水源部(MEWR),以及新加坡贸易和工业部的所做出的研究成果,指食品价格是受到原料、人力和租金等各种因素所影响,并强调,租金成本仅仅占了影响食物价格的12巴仙,只是一小部分。 “原料占了食品成本最大的部分,达59巴仙,而人力仅占了17巴仙。环境和水源部在2018年更新有关研究时,发现到原料成本还是制定价格的最大因素。” 然而,针对政府做出的有关成本统计研究,食尊(Makansutra)创始人司徒国辉于上周三(15日),在其脸书帖文表示非常不认同。 我国摊位竞标价成世界之最 他指出,单单是租金(12巴仙)和材料(59巴仙),加起来就占了总成本的71巴仙。“任何一名头脑清醒的商家,都不会去看成本模型,就算它是达到成本的59巴仙(疯的吗?)。全球标准应是30巴仙或以下。” 他补充,虽然很容易在行业中取得类似人力占了成本的17巴仙的刻板统计数据,但是软数据才是重点。 司徒先生指出,在小贩行业内的人力成本,自从环境局安装了集中式洗碗,以及自行归还碗盘和托盘的计划,在政府维持补贴了50巴仙平均费用之下,最多只能够维持四年。 他也指出,目前的公开市场的摊位竞标价格达到4000至5000元,成为了全球最贵的公共小贩租金。 相关研究不切实际…

自6月1日起,入境马国旅客须自行承担隔离费用

马来西亚国防部高级政务部长依斯迈沙比里表示,所有入境马国的人士,都必须自行承担隔离费用,并须在来马前签署同意书。 依斯迈沙比于每日媒体简报上表示,由于马国将持续对从国外返马的人实施强制隔离,因此该措施也将自6月1日起生效。 据报道指出,马国公民只需支付一半的隔离费用,至于非马国公民,即使是其配偶与家庭成员,都需自行支付所有的费用。 此外,欲入境马国的游客也必须附上同意承担隔离费用的同意书,该同意书可在马国大使馆获得,在签署同意书后,大使馆也会发出许可信,允许他们返马。 与此同时移民局也会像所有航空公司发出相关指令,规定入境马来西亚游客必须一同签署同意书。 自4月3日起,马国政府已对从国外返马的马国公民实施强制隔离,截至目前,已有3万8千371名从海外返马的马国人被隔离,其中有逾3万人已获准回家。 马国曾于本月14日表明,马国政府将承担公民返马的费用,拒绝为非马国公民的人承担隔离费用。 “我们必须确定他们从何而来,对于来自高风险国家的旅客,卫生部将决定否批他们的申请。”