Gents,
I'm not quite current on the news in Singapore, but can someone
tell me what this is about ? ...
taken off ST's website ...
Cops, not wardens, should nab offenders
Sep 26, 2006
The Straits Times
I REFER to the letter "Old hand at driving booked 5 times in month"
(ST, Sept 23), from Ms Koh Bee Kwang.
There are serious implications which arise from the outsourcing of
policing duties by government agencies.
For the police, the matter is of even greater concern.
Firstly, it is the sacrosanct duty of the police force to prevent
and detect the commission of offences.
Secondly, fines levied on summonses belong to the state and not the
police.
When the detection of traffic offences is outsourced by the police,
can we expect an astronomical increase in the number of summonses
issued? The reasons are fairly obvious.
Unlike police officers, the motivation for these outside agencies
is clearly profit and that would invariably be tied to the amount
of fines which they are able to collect.
The wardens employed by these agencies are not subject to the same
oath of allegiance to uphold and protect the law that the police
are.
As such, they may be overzealous in the performance of their tasks
and would not exercise any judicious discretion.
Their promotion and incentives will also be linked to some quotas
and that puts every motorist at risk of being booked by some
desperate wardens.
There is also the question about the use of the fines to pay these
outside agencies to do their work.
Are the fines collected deemed to be income at the disposal of the
police?
Lastly, almost everything can be outsourced. What guidelines are
there to ensure that we do not end up with a situation where
government agencies outsource their work and leave the taxpayers in
the lurch?
The worry is that if all government agencies do this, what is going
to happen?
Tan Lam Siong
WHO'S IN CHARGE?
The wardens employed by these agencies are not subject to the same
oath of allegiance to uphold and protect the law that the police
are.
are we outsourcing (traffic) police work to private contractors ?
... 
