Prostitutes in Geylang ply trade despite security cameras
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News @ AsiaOne
Prostitutes in Geylang ply trade despite security cameras
CCTV along certain stretches of roads have not deterred prostitutes during the busy festive season. A check last week from 11pm to 2am saw about 100 working girls and their pimps thronging Lorongs 8, 10, 12 and Talma Road.-TNP
Sun, Feb 06, 2011
The New Paper
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GEYLANG HOTSPOT
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Blog "exposes" men who go to Geylang
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By Special Correspondents
SECURITY cameras along certain stretches of roads in Geylang have not deterred prostitutes from plying their trade there during the busy festive season.
When we visited the area last week from 11pm to 2am, about 100 working girls and their pimps thronged Lorongs 8, 10, 12 and Talma Road.
Last year, police raids drove most of them away but some have returned. One pimp told The New Paper that there are more prostitutes because business is usually good during this period.
The women seemed oblivious to the closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras - some with large blue signs declaring "Police camera in operation" in four languages - installed along the lanes of the red-light district.
We noticed 12 cameras from Lorong 12 to Lorong 22 Geylang. Of these, two at the junction of Talma Road and Lorong 12 Geylang were recently added.
Some have signs indicating that the cameras were in operation, while others were unmarked.
A prostitute from Indonesia, who wanted to be known only as Annie, 20, stood right beneath one of the police cameras at the junction of Lorong 12 Geylang and Talma Road last Wednesday night.
Annie arrived here with a social visit pass just in time to catch the pre-Chinese New Year crowd. Last Wednesday was her second day here.
Is she afraid of the police?
"Only checkpoint," she said in broken English, referring to the immigration officers stationed at the airport.
But she is "not scared" of the CCTV cameras, she said. She plans to leave once the festive period is over.
A prostitute from Wuhan, China, who wished to be known only as Xiuxiu, 24, said last Thursday was her second day soliciting in Geylang.
Xiuxiu, who came here on a student pass a month ago, used to work as a KTV singer at Havelock Road, but the income of $300 a night as a lounge singer was too little for her, she said.
Xiuxiu, who stationed herself along Talma Road, was not aware of the two police CCTV cameras installed at the junction. She said in Mandarin: "This is terrible. What if my face gets recognised by the police? Will I get into trouble with immigration?"
One security expert, Mr S M Jegan from Kokusai Security, said the cameras will not deter the girls.
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Can't be recognised
He said: "They're foreign girls...So why would they care if their faces are captured on camera? Nobody would recognise them.
"They only worry about police patrols or anti-vice raids."
Mr Royce Tan, who owns a few apartments in Geylang and manages a string of tattoo studios there, agreed.
Mr Tan, 44, said: "Whenever there's a raid, the streetwalkers will reappear a few weeks later. Whether or not security cameras are in place, they are not afraid."
Mr Wu, 71, who has lived at Wing Fong Court, located at the junction of Talma Road and Lorong 14 Geylang, for more than 10 years, is upset that despite the cameras and raids, prostitutes still line the streets.
"Somehow the pimps get access to (the apartment complex premises)," said Mr Wu.
"Often, when the police come, the pimps would open the gate and let the girls hide here.
"The girls are still lining up outside my gate every night. But what can I do?"
CCTV cameras should not be the only answer to eradicating illegal prostitution, said the police.
Police spokesman Mohd Hamizyam said: "The CCTV system does not perform an active protective role and should not be designed to serve as the sole protective measure in a specified area, but must work in conjunction with other security measures, such as access control, alarm systems (and so on)."
While CCTVs have proven to be useful in helping the police to deter, detect and solve crimes, they are just one of the many tools used by the police in investigations.
Added the spokesman: "For example, even though a clear view of a suspect's face may have been captured on CCTV, police investigations will still be needed to identify the suspect, locate him and recover the physical evidence."
The Straits Times reported in September 2008 that there were then more than 120 CCTV cameras keeping a round-the-clock watch on places like Boat Quay, Orchard Road, Shenton Way, Little India and Geylang.
The cameras were first introduced in 2003, and a command centre, manned 24 hours, receives live images.
The report said the police had intended to add a further 223 cameras. One polytechnic student is glad there are surveillance cameras close to where she lives.
The female student from Temasek Polytechnic, who wished to be known only by her surname Shi, has lived in an apartment in Geylang for three years.
The student from China, who has been mistaken as a working girl several times, said on Tuesday that she is glad the police CCTV cameras are there.
"I feel safer with (the cameras) around, but I would still avoid the back alleys," she said.
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Higher CNY room rates
ARE businesses in Geylang cashing in on the increased traffic during the festive season?
A staff member of one Geylang budget hotel told us that its nightly rate has increased from $45 to $70 from Wednesday to Monday.
A staff member at another hotel told us on Tuesday that the nightly rate of $40 will most likely be increased during the Chinese New Year period too.
Business has also improved lately for some eateries, thanks to the influx of streetwalkers during this festive season.
At Mongkok Dim Sum, a coffee shop at Geylang Road, a staff member, who gave her name as Madam Ah Mei, 42, said business has been good in the weeks leading to Chinese New Year.
Most of her customers are local young men, Madam Ah Mei said.
Is she bothered by the fact that there are many prostitutes just a stone's throw away?
She said: "We have accepted (their presence). The business here is brought about by the nightlife here, including those men who go to the KTVs. Why should we feel disturbed?"
But not all shop operators saw good business
Two doors away at 218 Coffeeshop, business has dipped, said a beer promoter who wanted to be known as Season.
She said: "Business dropped lately because many foreign workers have returned home. Even traffic on the road has decreased."
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>As confirmed by her lawyer and officials from the Indonesian embassy, who went to her family in West Java Village, Nurhayati is 16, and not 24. Her age was confirmed after checking her school records and interviews with her family.
