We came across this post on Facebook page Fake News – Singapore:
To deter bicycle theft during 7th month, Police put up mirrors at various void decks.
Posted by Fake News – Singapore on Sunday, 6 September 2020
The photo in the post shows what looks to be a mirror placed in front of a bicycle rack at a HDB void deck. The caption in the post states that mirrors have been put up by the Police at various void decks during the 7th month in a bid to deter bicycle theft.
For the unacquainted, the 7th month is better known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, and is reportedly the time of the year when ghosts and spirits emerge from hell.
While we are unable to find the exact source of the image, a Google image search led us to an earlier post on Facebook page Al-kisah:
Waaaah bawah block da ade OOTD mirror 😂
Posted by Al-kisah on Wednesday, 2 September 2020
The caption loosely translates to “Wah there’s an OOTD mirror under the block”.
So what are the mirrors for?
While it’s evident that the speculations made by both Facebook pages are tongue-in-cheek, we were also unable to find any information on why mirrors are being put up at void decks.
However, we were able to find an article published in 2014 which talks about a project by the Jurong Police Division where mirrors were installed on lift doors at HDB blocks. The purpose of the mirrors was for those in a lift to monitor people behind them and to watch out for crime. Then, around 450 HDB blocks in areas including Bukit Batok, Choa Chu Kang and Jurong West had their lifts installed with such mirrors.
When we reached out to the Police for clarification on the purpose of the mirrors installed at void decks, they replied stating that they are “unable to comment on the issue raised”.
Therefore we rate the claim that the Police puts up mirrors at void decks during the 7th month in a bid to deter bicycle theft as unproven.
