Singapore Police Force

2006 saw a notable 10% decrease in overall crime, from 37,093 cases in 2005 to 33,263 cases in 2006. The drop in overall crime was registered after four consecutive years of increase between 2002 and 2005.

The crime rate per 100,000 population mark rose from 722 in 2004 to 843 in 2005, but remained below the 1,000 crimes per 100,000 population mark for the seventh consecutive year¹. Similar to previous years, the main contributors to the increase in crime were theft and related offences², which constituted more than half of the overall crime cases reported in 2005. In particular, significant increases were noted for other theft, theft in dwelling and shop theft.

The crime rate¹ per 100,000 population mark fell from 854 in 2005 to 742 in 2006. This is the eighth consecutive year in which the crime rate remained below the 1,000 crimes per 100,000 population mark. In terms of arrests, a total of 19,639 persons were arrested for overall crime in 2006, which is an 11% drop from the preceding year.

All of the nine index crimes registered decreases in 2006 from 2005, with the most significant decreases noted for rioting and the property offences of housebreaking, motor vehicle theft and robbery.

Aided by greater public awareness and vigilance, theft and related offences, which constituted more than half of overall crime, fell by 11% in 2006 to register 20,301 cases. Among the offences, shop theft, theft from person and other theft witnessed the largest absolute decreases.

However, a concern in 2006 was the high occurrence of theft and related offences where metal items were stolen. A total of 1,087 cases of theft of metals were reported in 2006, which was more than double the 512 cases registered in from 2005. Such cases occurred at both public and private premises and common metal items stolen include cables, lightning conductors, raw materials, prayer urns, dry-riser lugs⁶, signage, drain covers and the doors of cable television over-ground boxes.

Crimes involving stolen hand phones declined from 4,825 cases in 2005 to 4,594 cases in 2006. Hand phone crimes dropped most notably for cheating and related offences, robbery and housebreaking. The drop in hand phone crimes may be partially due to the enhanced public education on such crimes as well as the implementation of new police initiatives such as the online database of the IMEI numbers of stolen hand phones for easy screening. However, hand phone crimes remain an area of concern because of the continually high mobile phone penetration rate in Singapore⁸.

A total of 4,280 youths were arrested for crime in 2006, as compared to 5,050 in 2005. They accounted for 22% of the total persons arrested. While this is a decrease from the 23% registered in 2005, it is still higher than the proportion of youth population in Singapore (16%). The three most common offences for which youths were arrested continued to be shop theft, other theft and rioting.

The number of foreigners arrested for crime increased from 3,036 persons in 2005 to 3,210 persons in 2006. They accounted for about 16% of the total persons arrested, higher than the 14% in 2005. More than half (57%) of the foreigners were arrested for theft and related offences, with shop theft accounting for around a third of the arrests.

Members of public contributed to the arrest of 700 criminals involved in murder, rape, outrage of modesty, robbery, housebreaking, motor vehicle theft and snatch theft. These public-assisted arrests accounted for around four in ten of the total arrests in these crimes in 2006, which is similar to previous years.

There was an improvement to the crime situation in 2006, with a 10% drop in overall crime and a reduction noted in all of the nine index crimes.

Despite the drop in crime, the Police will not rest on its laurels. The Police will continue with its efforts to fight crime and work closely with the public and its community partners on raising crime awareness through public education and outreach efforts.

1	Crime rate is based on total population. Total population comprises Singapore residents and foreigners staying in Singapore for at least one year. Source: Dept of Statistics.
2	Index crimes refer to the nine offences of cheating and related offences, housebreaking, motor vehicle theft, outrage of modesty, robbery, snatch theft, rioting, rape and murder. They were selected for their reliability and higher reporting rates.
3	Refers to persons aged 60 years old and above.
4	Common areas include lifts/lift landings, void decks, staircases/staircase landings.
5	Theft and related offences include other theft, theft in dwelling (in hotel and others), shop theft, theft of bicycle, theft from person, etc and also includes the index crimes of motor vehicle theft and snatch theft.
6	Dry-riser lugs are fittings in buildings needed for Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) firefighters to draw water to douse high-rise fires.
7	Refers to cases where handphones or handphones and other items were taken for cases of theft from vehicle, theft from person, shop theft, theft in dwelling, cheating and related offences, robbery, housebreaking, snatch theft, theft as a servant and other theft under Sec379 of Penal Code Cap 224.
8	Infocommunications Development Authority (IDA), Singapore listed the mobile phone pen etration rate in Singapore as 103.4% in Dec 2006.
9	Refers to persons aged 7-19 years old.
10	Public-assisted arrests refer to cases where the public had provided information, made a citizen’s arrest, or alerted the police to a crime in progress.