To say that Mr Rene Shepherdson is security-conscious is an understatement. He is Operations Director of Prosec Services Pte Ltd, a company that employs more than 650 security officers who reflect a mix of Chinese, Malays, Indians and other races. Prosec operates a 24-hour control room manned from its office in Geylang Road. Its value-added services, such as paperless guard systems, the Visitors Management System and the Biometrics System, provide management data to enhance security levels. Its concierge teams make it a hybrid company that combines security services with of customer service. Mr Shepherdson inserted the CEP message into his workplace after he attended a course and learnt about the terrorist threat to Singapore. He briefed his executives on the need to preserve the spirit of multi-racial harmony which pervades the company. There is a problem “when guards, drivers and cleaners start talking politics”, and so his executives, in turn, spoke to junior staff on the need to avoid sensitive issues of race, religion and politics in their chats.

Mr Shepherdson's security mindset is based on hard experience. The father of three, who defines himself unambiguously as being multi-racial — he has a sister who is Muslim — remembers the racial riots of 1964, when he was six. His father, who worked in Geylang, did not come home to their house in Siglap for two days. His mother was dreadfully worried, but it was a relief for the family to know later that Mr Shepherdson Sr. had been housed safely for those two days by a man from whom he had bought a television set. “In those days, you created a bond with a person if you bought a TV set from him”, Mr Shepherdson recalls with a fond smile. Today, bonding is a more complex affair. He believes that it is better to start off with small grassroots events and build on them than to necessarily go for large events that are spectacular.