Loan sharks beware

Illegal moneylending
Police to use mobile CCTVs to curb syndicates' harassment

Teo Xuanwei
xuanwei@mediacorp.com.sg

SOON, police will have eyes round-the-clock at "hotspots" for this "public menace": Illegal moneylenders who splash, paint or scrawl O$P$ (owe money, pay money) on walls.

Against the backdrop of a doubling in the number of illegal moneylending harassment cases in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said mobile closed-circuit televisions will be installed at "harassment-prone sites".

The police said they had bought more than 300 mobile CCTV cameras, which will aid their investigations and serve as deterrence to harassers. Although overall crime figures dipped by 3 per cent between January and last month, loan-sharking cases rose from last year's 2,066 to 3,993.

The Home Affairs Ministry will also consider making borrowing from loan sharks an offence, so as to hold borrowers accountable "if their reckless borrowing or gambling habits endanger the safety and security of the community", Mr Wong said at the annual police workplan seminar yesterday.

Many debtors have been known to become runners for loan-shark syndicates to pay off their debts, he said, making it necessary to "stem the problem decisively in the bud".

Innocent victims of such harassments say they welcome the move despite having to sacrifice some privacy. "If I don't have to spend a single cent, it's definitely a good move," said a MediaCorp Hotline caller who only wanted to be known as Madam Tan. The 34-year-old customer relations officer's home has been splashed with paint six times although her family never borrowed from loan sharks.

Whether this will arrest the problem depends on how soon and for how long the CCTVs are deployed, engineer Alex Lau, 39, told Today. To help frontline officers manage their workload, Mr Wong also announced that manpower at the existing 32 neighbourhood police centres (NPCs) would be beefed up with 220 new officers.

The opening of an integrated resort at the end of the year might bring fresh challenges, noted Mr Wong, as "undesirable elements" enter Singapore and heighten the risk of crimes such as money-laundering, cheating and forgery. But he stressed that the police will "reinvent and reposition" themselves.

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From TODAY, News – Friday, 17-April-2009