Singapore Strengthens Police Community Partnership
Police face new, bigger challenges, but key is in community partnership.
The Police Workplan Seminar at The Singapore Expo – Keynote Address by Guest-of-Honour Mr Wong Kan Seng, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, 29 April 2010.
Commissioner of Police, Mr Ng Joo Hee, Distinguished Guests, Officers of the Singapore Police Force, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning.
The Singapore Police Force’s pledge to do its best to keep Singapore safe and secure is well captured in this year’s theme for the workplan seminar, “A Vigilant Force – Securing the Nation, Forging the Future”. This seminar allows us to draw lessons from the past year and more importantly make plans and strategies to better prepare us for future challenges.
SPF in 2009
Our operating landscape has changed drastically. Police forces around the world are reacting to new challenges, sometimes with a hefty price. Russia just went through a series of bomb attacks by terrorists. What began as a peaceful demonstration in Bangkok has resulted in a loss of lives and many casualties, prompting tourists to avoid the city altogether. It was reported that unidentified gunmen equipped with guns and grenades had infiltrated into the ranks of protestors to target security personnel, protestors and even innocent civilians. This shows how trouble makers – be they agent provocateurs, criminal and terrorists elements – can easily infiltrate the ranks of peaceful protestors to create chaos. Had such mayhem taken place in a dense city-state like Singapore, putting the community in a gridlock, the economic and social consequences will be severe and disastrous.
The stable, safe and secure environment in Singapore is one of the key reasons why foreign investors are attracted here. It is also something that Singaporeans, especially those who have lived overseas, have come to appreciate over time. Our officers’ vigilance and hard work have contributed significantly to this peaceful state.
In 2009, the Police Force continued to keep the overall crime situation in Singapore under control. The overall crime rate last year fell to about 660 cases from just over 680 in 2008. This is the second lowest crime rate in the last 20 years. As for traffic, the fatality rate per 100,000 residents dropped from 4.57 in 2008 to 3.77 in 2009, also the lowest in the last 30 years. On the international front, Singapore is ranked 3rd out of 133 economies for “Reliability of police services“ in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2009-20102.
Beyond maintaining law and order on a day-to-day basis, Police also plays a key role in securing various high profile events in Singapore for example, the 2009 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings where 21 Heads of Economies were present, and the very first Interpol General Assembly in Singapore last year where Police Chiefs of the world gathered here.
Future Challenges
Managing Mega-International Events
Come August 2010, Singapore would play host to the inaugural Youth Olympics. We are expecting some 500,000 spectators and 3,600 young athletes. SPF will once again face the challenge of managing overall security for this mega-event in addition to ensuring security for our 45th National Day celebrations. Following the YOG is the F1 race in September 2010. That Singapore is a choice destination for such mega international events bear testament to our good track record in successfully hosting them. This track record is achieved through the professionalism, hard work and dedication of our Police officers to ensure the safety and security of international visitors to Singapore during these events.
Integrated Resorts (IRs)
The opening of Singapore’s two new Integrated Resorts also pose new challenges to the Force. There were some concerns that the casinos could be natural targets and places of opportunity for criminal activity. These are valid and real concerns. Since the announcement of the building of the two Integrated Resorts in 2005, the Singapore Police Force has gradually built up its capability to address these potential threats. Laws were introduced to stamp out unlicensed money-lending activities; the Casino Crime Investigation Branch (CCIB) became fully operational on 27 Jan 2010 to tackle casino-related crimes. Commissioner of Police Exclusion Orders have also been issued by the Police with a view to keep potential loansharks, gangs, pimps and cheats out of the casinos. In June 2009, the Marina Bay Neighbourhood Police Centre was fully operational to better serve the people and businesses in the vicinity, including those in the Marina Bay Sands IR.
The Police has worked and must continue to work closely with the IRs and other stakeholders to ensure that they remain crime-free, safe and secure.
There are two other critical factors for Police to sustain its effectiveness in our changing operating landscape. They are how we can optimise the resources that we have and how we can further strengthen the police-community partnership.
Holistic deployment of resources to cope with changing demographics and operational needs
First, optimising our valuable Police resources. I have asked the Police to constantly review how best to develop and deploy our resources to achieve optimal effectiveness in terms of our core functions of combating crime and security threats. Over the years, we have gradually outsourced some non-core functions to complement our officers in areas of persons and vehicle checks, crowd control and traffic management during major events. This allowed our operationally-trained officers to be redeployed to focus on operational duties and specialized areas which require skills set that are unique to the Police Force. We need to constantly review and improve human resources initiatives to give better recognition to our officers.
I have also directed the Police to undertake a detailed study of the NPC and NPP systems to take into account changes in population demographics and the operational needs of the specific communities. We must be prepared to re-configure the NPC and NPP systems so as to better meet the growing and changing demand for police services. Likewise, it ensures that Police resources will be deployed in a targeted, optimal and sustainable manner.
Strengthening Police-Community Partnership
The partnership that the Police has built with the community that it serves is critical to making our homes and neighbourhoods, a safer and more secure place. The Police-Community Partnership has been well-established over the years and we must continue to strengthen it. What first started out as the Community Safety and Security Programme (CSSP), the Safety and Security Watch Group (SSWG) and the Neighbourhood Watch Zone (NWZ) initiatives have spun-off and developed into further community-policing activities. For instance, there are close to 800 Neighbourhood Watch Groups in Singapore. Many of them play an active role to help residents deal with the bane of loanshark harassment. Such collaborations contribute to the increase in the number of arrests from 290 in 2007 to more than 950 in 2009.
Similarly, Police engagement with the business community through the Safety and Security Watch Groups (SSWG) and Project Guardian schemes have successfully helped raise the awareness of Police’s business community partners on how they can help prevent terrorism. Under the Project Guardian scheme, I am happy to note that more than 1400 private security personnel have been trained in crisis response thus far. Their involvement in crisis response will play a critical role in supporting the Police in mitigating a national crisis.
I hope that Police will continue to expand its outreach further and deepen the bonds you have with the community. Four million vigilant Singapore residents will be a priceless and strong deterrent force against criminals and terrorists on the ground.
Securing the Nation, Forging the Future
The Police Force has always appreciated that the business of security cannot be undertaken by the Force alone. Rather, it is the potent combination of the Force’s professionalism as well as its close partnership with stakeholders and the community which gives and will continue to give Singaporeans peace of mind to know that they can walk on the streets of Singapore without fear. Only by getting all our stakeholders on board can we secure the nation and forge a brighter future for our families and our homes.
As has been done in the past, key community partners have been invited to this annual Workplan Seminar. I am happy to hear that of the almost 500 participants joining in for the seminar, about one third comprise your community partners. It is this powerful partnership that would see the Singapore Police Force and Singapore through the challenges ahead.
I wish you a fruitful seminar and discussions today. With this, it is now my pleasure to declare the 2010 Police Workplan Seminar open.
Thank you.
Topics: 2010, 2010 Police Workplan Seminar open, A Vigilant Force – Securing the Nation, Bangkok, challenges, community, Community Safety and Security Programme, crime rate, criminals, crisis response, demonstration, foreign investors, Forging the Future, Governance, government, holistic deployment of resources, Interpol General Assembly, moniter, monitor, Neighbourhood Watch Zone, peace, peaceful state, police, police force, police officers, Police-Community Partnership, protests, Reliability of police services, Russia, safety, Safety and Security Watch Group, security, Singapore, society, stakeholders, terrorism, terrorits, threats, Workplan Seminar, Youth Olympics
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