Peeping Tom
Sunday, May 19, 2013
With the popularity of camera phones on the rise, it makes peeping toms' jobs a lot easier. It's so convenient to just take out your phone to video or take snapshots of others.
There was an infamous case of a peeping tom in one of the NTU hall famale toilet where the victim publicly shamed the guy on Facebook which spread like wildfire in the NTU community.
Recently, I witnessed how easy it was for a male to enter the ladies and to film the next cubicle easily from the gap at the top.
It was a Friday afternoon and I was wandering around Jcube all by myself. While entering the washroom, I noticed they placed a security camera right outside the entrance for the gents and ladies. There was a screen hanging from the ceiling showing explicitly what the camera was filming - people entering the gents and ladies. I thought to myself, whoa it's the first time I see such security measures.
All the cubicles in the ladies were occupied when I entered, so I waited outside. A girl, probably around the age of 11, came out from the last cubicle with her shorts half on. Well, it was an awkward sight and in my heart, I thought she was just weird.
And then, she looked helplessly at me and pointed inside the cubicle, while still trying to put on her shorts.
"There's a camera in there," her voice filled with fright.
"Camera?" Someone placed a pinhole camera in the toilet?! I walked forward and took a look into the cubicle and true enough, at the top corner of the cubicle, there was a camera phone. Someone from the next cubicle was filming her cubicle with a camera phone.
I was furious. Maybe I wasn't really thinking carefully during the whole time because I was simply just disgusted by this peeping act.
I knocked on the cubicle door profusely. No answer.
I looked around the ladies for any sign of reinforcement I could get. There was a queue waiting to use the washroom but nobody wanted to be involved. Bystander effect.
"Are your parents with you?" I asked the poor girl. She replied no. And I thought I should really help her out here. If I were in her shoes, I would be traumatised and terrified.
I banged on the door again. This time, threatening to phone the police if he/she didn't want to come out. Still no answer.
You'll have to come out sooner or later, I thought to myself. I wanted to head out to get the security but I'm afraid if I do so, the culprit could use this time to escape. No one else in the washroom wanted to lend a hand either.
A lady in uniform, she had a customer service tag on the uniform, came out from another cubicle and I approached her. "Do you know where's the security in this building?"
She thought a moment and said she was unsure. She directed to head down to level 1 and approach the customer service counter. Wasn't really helpful of her. Jcube could hire better staff. Before she could finish, the culprit opened the door.
A young boy in his primary school uniform (U****** Primary School) came out of the cubicle.
Immediately, I went up to him and demanded him to hand over his handphone. "Come with me to the security." I brought him out, "don't you know that's a female toilet?"
He had his walk of shame out the ladies with me. However, right before we walked into the shopping mall, he tried to snatch the phone from my hand and wanted to make a run for it.
Unfortunately, he didn't manage to successfully snatch it away and we were having a mini tug-o-war. I glanced out to the shopping mall and saw a security guard standing right there.
"This boy here was taking a video in the female's toilet!" I said loudly to the security guard, while still playing the tug-o-war with the boy.
The security guard came over and saved me from the tug-o-war. He took over the situation and brought the boy to the cargo lift area.
Two other teenage boys came over to join the commotion. I wasn't sure if they were related to the boy or they were just curious. They were speaking to the security guard in their language so I couldn't understand a single bit.
The 7 of us (the security guard, the boy, the girl and her friend, the two teenage boys and me) took the cargo lift down to the security where another guard took over.
The two teenage boys left after the alighted at the ground level, so I wasn't sure if they're related to the boy.
Nevertheless, the security guard took over the situation and made the boy display the media contents in his phone to the girl and I to ensure that there's no video of photos that are not to be seen by others. After 5 minutes of confronting and talking to the boy in a rather nurturing manner, he asked the boy apologise to the girl.
When we left, the boy was close to tears. The girl probably thought the boy deserved harsher punishments but I thought this was appropriate since he was still a young boy. Scaring him and showing him that he can be caught for doing such acts was probably the best punishment he can get.
There was an infamous case of a peeping tom in one of the NTU hall famale toilet where the victim publicly shamed the guy on Facebook which spread like wildfire in the NTU community.
Recently, I witnessed how easy it was for a male to enter the ladies and to film the next cubicle easily from the gap at the top.
It was a Friday afternoon and I was wandering around Jcube all by myself. While entering the washroom, I noticed they placed a security camera right outside the entrance for the gents and ladies. There was a screen hanging from the ceiling showing explicitly what the camera was filming - people entering the gents and ladies. I thought to myself, whoa it's the first time I see such security measures.
All the cubicles in the ladies were occupied when I entered, so I waited outside. A girl, probably around the age of 11, came out from the last cubicle with her shorts half on. Well, it was an awkward sight and in my heart, I thought she was just weird.
And then, she looked helplessly at me and pointed inside the cubicle, while still trying to put on her shorts.
"There's a camera in there," her voice filled with fright.
"Camera?" Someone placed a pinhole camera in the toilet?! I walked forward and took a look into the cubicle and true enough, at the top corner of the cubicle, there was a camera phone. Someone from the next cubicle was filming her cubicle with a camera phone.
I was furious. Maybe I wasn't really thinking carefully during the whole time because I was simply just disgusted by this peeping act.
I knocked on the cubicle door profusely. No answer.
I looked around the ladies for any sign of reinforcement I could get. There was a queue waiting to use the washroom but nobody wanted to be involved. Bystander effect.
"Are your parents with you?" I asked the poor girl. She replied no. And I thought I should really help her out here. If I were in her shoes, I would be traumatised and terrified.
I banged on the door again. This time, threatening to phone the police if he/she didn't want to come out. Still no answer.
You'll have to come out sooner or later, I thought to myself. I wanted to head out to get the security but I'm afraid if I do so, the culprit could use this time to escape. No one else in the washroom wanted to lend a hand either.
A lady in uniform, she had a customer service tag on the uniform, came out from another cubicle and I approached her. "Do you know where's the security in this building?"
She thought a moment and said she was unsure. She directed to head down to level 1 and approach the customer service counter. Wasn't really helpful of her. Jcube could hire better staff. Before she could finish, the culprit opened the door.
A young boy in his primary school uniform (U****** Primary School) came out of the cubicle.
Immediately, I went up to him and demanded him to hand over his handphone. "Come with me to the security." I brought him out, "don't you know that's a female toilet?"
He had his walk of shame out the ladies with me. However, right before we walked into the shopping mall, he tried to snatch the phone from my hand and wanted to make a run for it.
Unfortunately, he didn't manage to successfully snatch it away and we were having a mini tug-o-war. I glanced out to the shopping mall and saw a security guard standing right there.
"This boy here was taking a video in the female's toilet!" I said loudly to the security guard, while still playing the tug-o-war with the boy.
The security guard came over and saved me from the tug-o-war. He took over the situation and brought the boy to the cargo lift area.
Two other teenage boys came over to join the commotion. I wasn't sure if they were related to the boy or they were just curious. They were speaking to the security guard in their language so I couldn't understand a single bit.
The 7 of us (the security guard, the boy, the girl and her friend, the two teenage boys and me) took the cargo lift down to the security where another guard took over.
The two teenage boys left after the alighted at the ground level, so I wasn't sure if they're related to the boy.
Nevertheless, the security guard took over the situation and made the boy display the media contents in his phone to the girl and I to ensure that there's no video of photos that are not to be seen by others. After 5 minutes of confronting and talking to the boy in a rather nurturing manner, he asked the boy apologise to the girl.
When we left, the boy was close to tears. The girl probably thought the boy deserved harsher punishments but I thought this was appropriate since he was still a young boy. Scaring him and showing him that he can be caught for doing such acts was probably the best punishment he can get.