There have been arguments online suggesting that the supposedly overzealous reporting and emergency responses to the recent MRT incidents may actually cause more harm than good. Two complaints are discernible.

First, mischief-makers may be emboldened to create such “false alarms” simply for their amusement.

Second, on a more sinister note, adversaries could create such false alarms to stretch the emergency response forces thin and exhaust them. Thus, it is not necessary to report or respond to everything.

Each of these complaints is flawed.

There are laws in place to deal with potential mischief-makers and laws are being reviewed to counter purveyors of fake news which cause the misapplication of public resources.

Second, the experience gained in reporting and responding to such false alarms may help stakeholders and security agencies better calibrate the reporting and deployment of resources in similar incidents in the future.

… Damien D Cheong is Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) and Coordinator of the Homeland Defence Programme at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. Kumar Ramakrishna is Associate Professor, Head of Policy Studies and Coordinator of the National Security Studies Programme in the Office of the Executive Deputy Chairman at RSIS.