Daily Lessons from Life 26 October 2014 - Police conduct anti-terror exercises at MRT stations

"Police conduct anti-terror exercises at MRT stations - TODAY 26 October 2014

SINGAPORE: A simulated terror swarm attack was carried out at the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station on Sunday (Oct 26) morning, while an “explosion” occurred at Downtown MRT station, which led to a simulated gunman situation at the nearby Marina Bay Link Mall.

Members of Singapore’s Safety and Security Watch Group (SSWG) participated in both scenarios, organised by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in collaboration with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

Ms Denise Phua, Member of Parliament for Moulmein-Kallang GRCsaid: "This is a very important exercise because terror incidents are very real in Singapore. We must never take our safety and our security for granted. And terror incidents can happen, attacks like these can happen across settings, whether in neighbourhood areas or even in downtown areas like this."

SSWG is made up of building owners in Singapore. The group was set up in 2003, then-known as the Security Watch Group, as a way for the business community to fight crime and terrorism threats.

The simulated scenarios are part of a larger two-day exercise by the SPF known as Exercise Heartbeat 2014, an emergency preparedness exercise held annually. The second part of Exercise Heartbeat 2014 starts on Monday."

I hope some of the bloody and deadly terrorists attacks we watched unfolding in remote part of our connect world will NEVER happen in Singapore. Yet, it will be foolhardy NOT TO BE PREPARED given the connectedness of our planet and how totally insane and mind-boggling terrorist acts DID happen in places no one were ever expect! e.g. the Kenya Mall shooting! The Mumbai Shooting where one of our citizens actually perished!

Lessons for me are:

1. drills and exercises must be held regularly as these are the next best things to get ourselves prepared, even though in truth, no one is ever prepared for the real thing, how to protect ourselves and minimize the casualties and reach a speedy resolution should such attacks happened;

2. looking at last December Little India Riot where our SPF and other law enforcement agencies did not, at least on initial feedback, perform to a level that give the public much confidence in them handling similar incidents, it is good that we have MORE REALISTIC drills and exercises during peace time. Of course, the Commission of Inquiry's conclusion gave the SPF and those units responding to the Little India Riot credits with just some suggestions for improvement. Still, it was a 'black eye' for the first few days and weeks as far as the public are concerned;

3. the fact that building owners and their employees are involved with these drills and exercises are great news. The strongest chain is only as strong as its weakest link. While ordinary citizens and residents cannot be expected to be as aware and alert and competent as the professionals in the law enforcement agencies, it is IMPORTANT that those in 'safety officer' and 'security officer' roles in the commercial enterprises BE REALLY professional and competent with their roles and responsibilities. These are the people who, when nothing happened, everyone thought they should be OUT OF JOB or REDUNDANT since they don't really do anything. This will be VERY WRONG.

The security and safety professionals ARE the MOST CRITICAL PART of civilian's response effectiveness to sudden terrorists attacks. Their competence can determine HOW innocent lives can be saved and collateral damages kept to the absolute minimum.

WDA working with the industry to make sure the standards are HIGH?