Service Improvement Unit Report on Public Feedbacks
(January - December 2006)

In line with the Public Service 21 (PS21) recommendation, the Service Improvement Unit (SIU) was formed in 1995. Its core function is to receive and collate feedback from members of public on service-related issues.

Review of Cases

The number of cases handled by SIU has increased significantly from 544 cases in 1995 to 4,963 in 2006. There was an increase in compliments, feedback, enquiries and a decrease in complaints, requests and suggestions. The breakdown is as shown above:

Despite the high volume of cases, SIU was able to meet 100% of the target (of 90%) of responding within five working days.

Classification of Cases

The information received by SIU can be categorised under the following six broad categories:

• Complaints against officers
• Appreciation of good service rendered by officers
• Request for Police service (for eg. Enforcement on illegal money-lending activities)
• Suggestions to further improve processes within the Singapore Police Force (SPF)
• Enquiries (for e.g. Query on road closure during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) event)
• Feedback (for e.g. On encountering ePC related problems)

Trends

There were 247 compliments registered with SIU in 2006, an increase of 23.5% as compared to 2005. Feedback registered an increase of 64.7% to 1,255 cases and enquiries registered an increase of 17.3% to 1,326 cases. Complaints dropped 40.90% to 292 cases and requests dropped 9.1% to 1,761 cases. SIU received a total of 82 suggestions, a decrease of 31.7% to 82. The breakdown of the cases handled in 2005 and 2006 is as shown in the table beside:

Breakdown of Cases

Compliments
Compliments or letters of appreciation from members of public were mainly for:
a) Appreciation of services rendered;
b) Patience and empathy shown by officers attending to public; and
c) Helpfulness and efficiency.

Feedback
Generally, SIU receives feedback through SIU Hotline, SIU e-mail, facsimiles, letters and in-person. SIU received feedback received on:
a) Police informing parents of their children’ movements in the ‘Teenage Curfew’ programme;
b) New requirements for Massage Parlours; and
c) Difficulty in logging onto police websites and problems encountered accessing the Police websites.

Complaints
Complaints from public against police officers were generally in the areas of professionalism, attitude, and investigation. The most frequent complaints were:
a) Encounters of rudeness while dealing with the police;
b) Late response of police arrival at the scene of incident; and
c) Inefficient and unprofessional conduct when dealing with the public.

Enquiries
Enquiries from the public were frequently about procedures, such as:
a) Query on a lost mobile phone was not captured in HITs database on stolen mobile phones;
b) Query on road closure during the S2006 event;
c) Status/outcome of police investigation

Requests
The common requests received were for:
a) Traffic-related issues for e.g. enforcement on illegal parking and traffic violation;
b) Enforcement on illegal money-lending activities; and
c) Vehicles to pass through road closure during the S2006

Suggestions
The common suggestions received were:
a) Traffic-related issues such as installing speed camera and posting the highway code on the website;
b) Prevention of terrorist attack to vital installation and infrastructure; and
c) Set up of a SMS hotline for hearing and speech impaired persons to SMS for help.

CONCLUSION

Over the years, SPF has undergone many changes to reach out and deliver quality services to the public and it will continue to give its best.

Service Pledge Statistics (January to December 2006)

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) Service Pledge is a commitment by SPF to the public on the level of service they can expect from the Force. It also serves as an internal guide for the SPF officers on the level of service standards expected of them.

The service standards are:

a) To answer ‘999’ calls within ten seconds at least 90% of the time
b) To arrive at urgent incidents within 15 minutes at least 87% of the time and non-urgent incidents within     30 minutes at least 90% of the time
c) To respond to letters from the public within five working days at least 90% of the time
d) To update victims of crimes on the preliminary status of cases within seven working days at least 90%     of the time
e) To attend to customers at police service counters within 15 minutes at least 75% of the time

Overall Performance

Answering ‘999’ Calls
The Combined Operations Room (COR) received 1,640,640 ‘999’ calls from the public in 2006. The number of calls received by COR in 2006 has dropped by 4.50% compared to the numbers of calls received in 2005. 1,573,960 (or 95.94%) of the calls were answered within 10 seconds.

Responding to Urgent Incidents
In 2006, 119,849 urgent incidents were reported by the public. 108,929 (or 90.89%) of these incidents were attended to within 15 minutes by the patrol resources. The number of urgent incidents reported in 2006 decreased by 0.22% compared to 2005.

Responding to Non-Urgent Incidents
For the year 2006, the public reported 226,981 non-urgent incidents. The number of non-urgent incidents reported in 2006 increased by 20.03% compared to 2005. 212,341 (or 93.55%) of the non-urgent incidents reported were attended to within 30 minutes.

Responding to Letters from Public
During the same period, 94,090 letters from the public were received. 93,890 (or 99.79%) letters received a response within five working days. The number of letters received in 2006 dropped by 17.52% compared to 2005.

Updating Crime Victims on Cases Outcome
In 2006, 40,451 crime cases were reported at the six Land Divisions, PCG, CID and CAD. Of these, 40,449 (or 99.99%) of the complainants/victims were informed of the preliminary status of their cases within seven working days.

Serving Customers at Police Service Counters
For the year 2006, 277,637 walk-in customers were served at the Police service counters. Of these, 246,161 (or 88.66%) of the customers were served within 15 minutes.

CONCLUSION

In 2006, SPF has met and exceeded all of the six targets set. SPF will continue to strive to achieve better service performance in 2007.