The photo on the left shows the state of one of my neighbour’s gate, and it reminds me just how irked I am with fliers being distributed in this manner. As most letter boxes now come with a locking feature which prevents such trash from being placed into our letter box, they now ‘go the extra mile’ to deliver that trash to the doorstep. It is even more irritating than locksmiths pasting little stickers with their numbers on the toggle switch of the door bell, since there is at least one of these fliers almost everyday while locksmith stickers are far and few in between.

Whether this neighbour is away on tour I do not know, though I personally suspect that the people staying in this unit are just tenants. I have noticed that the faces change every now and then and unlike my other neighbours, none of them cared to mingle nor greet anyone when we walked past. it is possible that the actual owner has illegally rented the entire unit to foreigners without even getting an approval from the HDB (Housing and Development Board).

Anyway, I recalled when I was a teenager and a member of NPCC (National Police Cadet Corps), one of the activities was to form Neighbourhood Watch Groups and earn a Crime Prevention Badge. The primary objective of these groups is to take note of strangers in the neighbourhood and report suspicious activities to the police. We were also shown videos on crime prevention. From these videos I learn that on top of having an effective police force and good locks (or security features), and keeping close attention on your own valuables, the other effective way of preventing crime is to avoid getting the unwanted attention of crooks.

For example, walking around counting notes after withdrawing cash from a bank or the ATM may attract the attention of snatchers, or ladies walking alone in the dark wearing skimpily may attract the attention of molesters and rapists. In fact, back then it was suggested that if we were to go on tour, we should cancel our newspaper subscription as stacks of uncollected newspaper is as good as screaming out to crooks that no one is home. These uncollected fliers simply attract unwanted attention as well.

A sister-in-Christ shared with me that this is exceptionally bad in the newer towns like Seng Kang and Punggol. She claimed that she gets at least 5 pieces everyday without fail! There was once she called the NPP (Neighbourhood Police Post) for advice before going overseas for two weeks, and their response was simply, “Sorry Madam, there’s nothing we can do. Just make sure your gates are secured.” Incidentally, that was the same response I get from my own NPP when I once reported an incident many years ago where someone keeps shaking my metal gate (I supposed to test whether it’s properly locked) everyday. I had tried to identify the culprit but everytime I get to the my door, the guy has already ran. Even though the NPP sent a patrol car down with two constables to my place to understand the situation, they seem reluctant to step up patrols in the area.

While I agree that I should secure my door, my main objective was to put an end to that nuisance, not to mention that I was a little concerned that my house might be broken in one of those days. Fortunately for the SPF (Singapore Police Force), the visit by the police constables was good enough to deter the prankster and put an end to his random and daily ‘gate shaking’.

Are break-ins so uncommon these days? Perhaps it makes up a very small proportion of the crimes committed in Singapore that the police no longer pay a close attention to the necessary crime prevention measures against it. Frankly, it is my considered opinion that this malpractice be stopped once and for all. After all, beside the matter of crime prevention it also reduces the amount of rubbish that is being produced. In fact, if fewer fliers are printed, it is also doing a part towards forest conservation.

By the way, on top of putting an end to the fliers from these blasted property agents, perhaps we should also look at putting an end to cold calls coming from them. I get calls as early as 8:30am in the morning or as late as 10:30pm at night making inquiries on whether I am interested in selling my flat. For goodness sake, stop calling! I’ll call you when I really want to sell my unit.

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