Community Policing

Tolong! Tolong! A thief, in his middle-thirties runs off with the bag of Aunty Minah. Cameras and sensors route footage and worthless information to police systems. The thief, a single man, recently lost his job at McDonald's, with the stagnant hourly rate of $5/hour over the past forty years and an amazing jump of fifty cents over another forty years. He had resorted to stealing. I mean, at some point, we had all these devious plans of robbing local banks and taking people hostage. Thankfully for the Singapore police, citizens have now been microchipped. Yes, tagged like dogs, cats, or any other living, non-living, furry critter for that matter. The bored sergeant at his desk checks his monitor, and when the thief runs of out of breath he pushes a button. Aiyo!!! The sergeant giggles as the thief drops to the floor clutching his head, wriggling in pain. The chip short-circuits his nervous system. Ground units are dispatched, and Aunty Minah's bag is returned to her with all her belongings in check. Kak! Next time run la. Give him a good tackle! We give you cybernetic legs for what?! For a moment, she forgets that she is old, limping, and cyborg. Transplanted memories. Sometimes we actually wonder if the police force is really necessary.









Elancharan Gunasekaran is a multidisciplinary artist and poet. He has a strange love for all things poetical and Sci-Fi. A winner of the Montblanc X Esquire Six-word Story prize 2017. His latest publications are Superatomicluminal (Hesterglock Press, UK), Gods of the Gonzo (Analog Submission Press, UK), The Cosmosnaut Manifesto (UndergroundBooks, New York), Sleeping with Wildflowers (Alien Buddha Press, Arizona/New York), Deviant Flames and Dark Revolver (Roman Books, India/UK). @elancharang and medium.com/@elancharang

See more of his work in 7.1