The need for security installations 2 comments

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The recent London blasts have once again highlighted the dangers that terrorism pose to our normal way of life. Western societies and those allied with them now find that improving public security is a major issue that has to be implemented.

Singapore already has a Coordinating Minister for Security and the fact that he is a Deputy Prime Minister fully illustrates the importance placed on this issue. The new ministry has been in existence for the last two years and it is likely that a host of recommendations to improve public security will be introduced, jolted by the London bombings.

One of the key drives that has involved regional cooperation is the push to strengthen security along the Straits of Malacca. This was to be expected given the importance of seaborne trading to Singapore, and indeed the region's, fortunes. There are discussions to increase ship patrols and recently, even air patrols. Armed security guards are also provided onboard commercial ships now. And of course Singapore was one of the first to adopt the US anti-terror ship and port facility security code, which include requirements for onboard security officers, alarm systems, and automatic identification systems for ships.

Recent talk has also centred around the installation of security cameras on public vehicles and locations. Already there are such cameras installed in places like Geylang, and also at the MRT stations (albeit perhaps also for other reasons). It would be useful to note the high density of such cameras in Western countries like Britain, which have supposedly helped to facilitate investigations into the recent bombings.

These are but two of the many areas that I would expect security to be tightened (albeit surreptitously) through the use of technology. Think about aviation, strategic infrastructure such as the utilities and telco installations, cybersecurity, personal identification (eg. biometrics) etc, and it is clear the security issue cuts across a slew of areas. Given the global concern about terrorism, security is likely to be a new growth sector with a continual churn of new products that will fill gaps in various public operations.

I am interested in this probable trend in two ways: firstly, there is likely local demand for security technology and products from the public sector in the next few years as the terrorism threat becomes something all Western-allied countries have to deal with; secondly, as always Singapore will try to position herself at the cusp of a rising trend (see biotechnology) and I think security might well be seen as one of those that could be leveraged on; it has a high services component requiring specialised skills, and provides high profit margins and growth. One might wish to note that our Coordinating Minister for Security is also in charge of the nation's R&D planning.