Low Crime is not no Crime

So, for the last few months it was dengue, and now it's crime.

The government goes on campaigns, and then they put up crazy signs, and then we all do our best to prevent _____ (fill in the blank).

With dengue, there were the signs "If they Breed, you will Bleed," which were pretty scary. There were also full-page ads in the (gov run) newspaper that had a picture of a happy family, and one person - usually the mom - was sort of watermarked. It says "We never thought it could happen to our family. Dengue Kills." It was really terrible.

Now, they're onto crime. By my work there are signs that say "Low Crime is NOT no Crime." That's true, but let's be honest - Singapore is so super safe. I have not once worried about walking down the street at night, I haven't held onto my bag especially well, we live on the ground floor, and our door is open quite often...I really don't worry about crime here (and I'm a worrier!). Granted I moved here from NYC, but still - this crazy campaign might be taking it a bit too far.

I got on the MRT go to home tonight, and the WHOLE thing was covered with pictures and scary words about how you have to protect yourself, and we shouldn't be distracted if someone tries to spill something on us. It instructs us that our bags should be slung over the shoulder and then tucked under our arm. It shows a picture of someone stealing someone's wallet in the MRT while she sleeps. It wasn't just on the ad strip above the seats - it was even on the windows and pretty much everywhere. By the time I left the MRT, I DID feel like someone was going to rob me - I had been warned at least 15 times in the last 20 minutes...