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Vehicle-rental association could get firms to tighten screening process

SINGAPORE — The Vehicle Rental Association (VRA) is looking into helping car-rental firms to tighten their screening process, such as assisting them to identify customers who have past criminal records. This could be done with the aid of technology, said its president Peter Cheong.

The Vehicle Rental Association is looking into helping car-rental firms to tighten their screening process, such as assisting them to identify customers who have past criminal records. This could be done with the aid of technology, said its president Peter Cheong. TODAY file phoyo

The Vehicle Rental Association is looking into helping car-rental firms to tighten their screening process, such as assisting them to identify customers who have past criminal records. This could be done with the aid of technology, said its president Peter Cheong. TODAY file phoyo

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SINGAPORE — The Vehicle Rental Association (VRA) is looking into helping car-rental firms to tighten their screening process, such as assisting them to identify customers who have past criminal records. This could be done with the aid of technology, said its president Peter Cheong.

Car-rental firms are currently required to keep a register of those who rent a vehicle. 

The 37-member association is also exploring a “working partnership” between its members and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to beef up security, in the wake of a spate of terrorist attacks overseas involving vehicles driven into crowds, said Mr Cheong, who stressed that these plans are still “preliminary”. 

In a recent phone interview with TODAY, Mr Cheong said the VRA, which represents players accounting for some 65 per cent of vehicles in the renting and leasing industry here, will also work with the authorities and vehicle rental firms in outreach events to raise awareness of terrorism and radicalisation.

“VRA will be working closely with MHA to monitor suspicious customers and provide swift assistance for operational and investigative needs,” said Mr Cheong, a managing consultant at the Singapore Fleet Management Services & Consultancy.

In June, TODAY reported that the MHA has been engaging bollard suppliers and other partners on the possibility of beefing up the security infrastructure of public spaces where crowds gather, such as Boat Quay, Clarke Quay and the Speakers’ Corner.

Bollard suppliers and security consultants told TODAY that anti-crash bollards — which can withstand crashes by trucks weighing up to five tonnes — can help to counter vehicle-borne attacks.

In Parliament last month, Second Minister of Home Affairs Desmond Lee confirmed that bollards and security barriers were among the measures being considered in a review to bolster security in public spaces here, particularly to guard against hostile vehicle attacks.

In response to a question posed by Mr Alex Yam, a Member of Parliament for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, Mr Lee said the authorities are “working closely with the relevant associations”, but details of the safety measures are still being worked out.

“But, at its base, we encourage heavy vehicle owners and car rental companies to be very mindful of the people that they rent their vehicles out to,” Mr Lee said.

In recent times, radicalised individuals and groups have increasingly been using vehicles as deadly weapons. Last Thursday, a van smashed into crowds of pedestrians on a famous boulevard in central Barcelona, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 100. 

Eight hours later, an Audi A3 ploughed into pedestrians at the popular coastal resort town of Cambrils, 110km south-west of Barcelona, injuring six civilians and one police officer.

Five suspected terrorists, donning what appeared to be explosive belts, which were later found to be fake, were shot dead by the Spanish police.

In June, a van rammed into pedestrians outside a mosque in northern London, killing one person and injuring at least 10 others. In March, three people were killed in a car-ramming attack on Westminster Bridge.

Last year saw similar attacks in Nice, France, where a cargo truck drove into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in July, and a truck ploughed into a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, in December.

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