BUILDING BRIDGES TO FOSTER
An Educated and
Engaged Community

by Ms Freda Yee

It has been more than 20 years since the introduction of the Singapore Police Force’s (SPF) community policing strategy. The Neighbourhood Police Post (NPP) system was inaugurated in 1983. Under the NPP system, SPF successfully lowered the crime rate and achieved the objective of building trust and rapport with the community. But SPF did not rest on its laurels. It is constantly evolving to keep up with the ever-changing operating environment. in 1997, the NPP system was re-designed to the Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) system, which is supported by community-based programmes such as the Community Safety and Security Programme (CSSP) and the Neighbourhood Watch Zone (NWZ) scheme to enable SPF to engage the community.

10 years on, SPF has achieved several operating successes with its community policing strategy. There is now greater ownership by the community over the safety and security issues in their neighbourhoods. They have become the eyes and ears for the Police and contributed to the low crime rates. For the past eight years, SPF has kept the crime rate under 1,000 crimes per 100,000 population. In addition, four in 10 arrests for major offences were made with assistance from members of public. In 2006, SPF further extended its community policing strategy to be in line with the Community Engagement Programme mooted by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to foster a more cohesive community and strengthen Singapore’s collective resilience in the face of terror.

10 years of CSSP

CSSP has matured and grown over the last decade, from crime-centric and localised projects to becoming an important collaboration between the grassroots and Home Team in resolving homeland security and emergency preparedness issues that impact the nation. Nevertheless, the objectives of CSSP remain the same – to empower the community in identifying and solving safety and security concerns in their neighbourhoods.

In 2006, more than 700 Community Safety and Security Programmes (CSSP) were jointly organised by the grassroots and the Police. One such successful CSSP project was the co-opting of foreign nationals as Crime Prevention Ambassadors, which saw the active involvement of foreign workers in ensuring the safety and security of their fellow workers and the environment they lived in. Other projects included the installation of inexpensive but effective intruder alarm systems at community premises such as family service centres, childcare centres and schools to deter break-ins. In addition, residents residing directly above these centres were also co-opted to be the eyes and ears for the Police to help combat housebreaking and thefts.

Other than localised safety and security issues, CSSP has taken on the role of preparing the community to be resilient during times of crises since 9-11. The Corporate First Responder (CFR) scheme is one such CSSP project. It was launched in January 2006 to facilitate existing Security Watch Group (SWG) members in carrying out critical business continuity planning and to encourage new commercial buildings to sign up. CFR members are issued with personalised identity cards that would grant them access into their affected building premises to help in rescue, investigation and retrieval of important business data in the aftermath of a crisis. Thus far, more than 700 personnel from over 110 companies are in the CFR scheme.

Successes of Neighbourhood Watch Zone (NWZ) Scheme

The Neighbourhood Watch Zone (NWZ) scheme is another community-based programme where resident volunteers serve as leaders in their community and work with the Police to combat crime. It was first introduced in 1997 with the aim to mobilise residents to keep watch against crime perpetrators in their neighbourhoods. When the scheme was first launched, there were only 65 volunteers and 26 residential zones. 10 years on, both the numbers of NWZ volunteers and zones have grown tremendously to the current 615 zones with over 4,600 volunteers.

Community policing in Singapore
has developed beyond simply
keeping crime low, to one that
plays an instrumental part in
enhancing community bonding
and resilience against crime
and teorrist threats.

Safety and Security Outreach

Last year, SPF launched a successful Crime Prevention Advertising Campaign at major train stations and bus-stops to address rising concerns over outrage of modesty cases, hand phone thefts and housebreaking cases. A media survey conducted on the effectiveness of the campaign revealed that over 78% of the public respondents understood the campaign messages and would adopt the various crime prevention measures to safeguard themselves. In the coming year, SPF will further collaborate with the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) to develop more prominent anti-crime public education campaigns to entrench the public’s knowledge of crime prevention.

Leveraging on the ubiquitous use of mobile phones, SPF launched the pilot SMS Crime Alert Service to interested MobileOne customers in July 2006. This was lauded as a good initiative as subscribers of the service would be alerted to recent crimes and advised on the preventive measures to adopt.

During the same year, SPF witnessed a spate of metal thefts, resulting from rising metal prices. To clamp down on the growing problem which brought along social inconveniences such as power failures and, in some instances, danger to the public, SPF embarked on a series of engagement talks with affected stakeholders to implement feasible measures to prevent further thefts.

Steering our Youths Away from Crime

The reduction of youth crimes by 28% in 2006 was largely attributed to the commitment of all members of the National Committee for Youth Guidance and Rehabilitation (NYGR). SPF, as a member of NYGR, has a broad spectrum of precautionary and diversionary programmes to educate and rehabilitate youths. One such initiative is the decade-old Honorary Volunteer Special Constabulary (Hon VSC) School Scheme which exemplifies a strong partnership between the Police and the Ministry of Education. Dedicated teachers and operations managers volunteer to serve as Hon VSC Officers to help curb juvenile
delinquency and crimes in schools. At present, 267 volunteer cops from over 144 secondary schools have been appointed.

Other programmes include the annual Youth Crime Prevention Roadshow, which showcases real-life examples of youths who had committed crimes, the Prison Visit Education Programmes for at-risk students, and the Youth-Hanging-Out-Late (YHOL) initiative where over 650 letters were sent out to parents alerting them of their children’s late night, at-risk activities.

Challenges to Community Policing

Community policing will continue to be SPF’s key operating strategy to maintain a low crime rate and to counter new emerging threats and challenges. Community policing in Singapore has developed beyond simply keeping crime low, to one that plays an instrumental part in enhancing community bonding and resilience against crime and terrorist threats.

SPF will continue to explore innovative ways and means to improve its community policing strategy.