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Always being around school during daylight but seldom after night falls when the stars come out to play, one’s mindset does not change as quickly, thinking that NUS is safe anytime of the day, anywhere. However, is it really or are we at HOOKED making a brouhaha over nothing at all?
The existence of unsafe locations on campus is rather worrisome,
especially when some of these areas are poorly lit and do not have a
high volume of traffic to begin with. For example, the vicinity of
Prince George’s Park (PGP) can be very quiet when the work crowds from the
surrounding work and industrial buildings empty out, after they knock off
from work. The road there, especially to can be
rather deserted, observed by a Year Three student, Ms Fang. What
perhaps makes it a tad alarming is that campus security appears to be
very infrequent, if not non-existent.
Furthermore, the proximity of PGP to Kent Ridge Park, an extremely
poor-lit and quiet area, raises the pertinence of patrols. Kent Ridge
Park, located off South Buona Vista Road, or more colloquially known
near the '99 Bends' or 'Devil’s Bend', is a favorite with some students
for running and is equipped with about 20 fitness stations. Lush
foliage provides awesome running sights but the area becomes a velvety
blanket when night time descends.
Engineer Shirleen Ng says that some
people do run alone at the park when queried if there was a larger
tendency to run in groups, especially to quieter areas like these.
However, not all dim, poorly lit areas raise the alarm bells. I
know that sounds like an oxymoron but the area of Shaw Foundation
House, while quiet, especially after office hours, is not as bad, since it is located near the main road.
 To Benjamin Goh, it is the risk that students take regarding their
valuables.
Yes, NUS may be safe but this safety is conditional, according to how far one would want to take this risk. If one leaves valuables
such as their money, handphones and laptops lying around, where the
latter could easily cost from $1 200 to $3 000, it is akin to knocking
on Trouble's Door.
While most of the students interviewed by Hooked
agree that NUS is by and large a safe campus, it is still a risk that
students take by themselves and are accountable for when they leave
valuables lying around. For example, the countless emails
disseminated particularly during the exam period shows that theft does
occur around campus, yet students still choose to leave their valuables
unattended, especially during such a crucial period.
However, what are
the chances that students take the time to trawl through their emails
regarding campus security when there's an avalanche of them concerning
project meetings, clarifications about the day's tutorials and all
that? Even so, these warnings would only be effective if students read and heed them.
Then it brings to question if news and such emails actually alarm
more than provide proper measures to prevent such things from
happening. On one hand, students cannot rely entirely on authorities to
always “do something” when their valuables are stolen or if they are
the victims of theft.
 The easy access to the public on campus, unless
it is to the library where the card reader system was only implemented
this semester, and the openness of the campus allows for any intruder
to come and go without being detected. Students themselves must then work on
looking after their own valuables and report any person if they notice
anything amiss.
The façade of a safe campus, need not be a façade at all, if we do
not take silly risks such as leaving our valuables unattended, even if
it is just for 5 minutes. As mentioned earlier, most of the students do
not feel NUS is dangerous, but rather, it is some of the students who
intentionally put themselves at risk to be targets of theft at times. HOOKED
Images courtesy of Google Images
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