SINGAPORE : Beginning Monday, there will be armed officers from
the Police Special Operations Command patrolling commercial,
entertainment and residential areas.
They will be armed with machine guns, similar to the ones used by
troops who now patrol Changi Airport.
An extra 32 men will be deployed and areas will be picked at random
and this could include Orchard Road and the HDB heartland.
The police said this is an expansion of the patrols that are now
carried out at the airport and other areas like Boat Quay and
Newton Circus.
The police told Channel NewsAsia that the expansion of the armed
patrols is not due to any specific security threat to
Singapore.
The aim is to project an even stronger police presence on the
ground and to reassure the public and deter any potential terrorist
attacks.
Police say they have been thinking of implementing the stepped up
armed patrols over the past few weeks.
Feedback from members of the public is that they are happy and feel
safer when they see armed patrols. - CNA