MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

Since the separation of the Ministry of Home Affairs from the Ministry of the Interior and Defence, the modernization of the Police Force has dominated the attention of the new Ministry.

In an increasingly industrialized, urbanized, and literate Singapore, the Police Force must adjust and introduce new methods to maintain law and order.

The Ministry has identified the long-term and short-term needs of the Police Force. On a ratio of every 250.000 to 300,000 people to one police division for optimum operational efficiency, the Police Force requires, within the next decade, four more divisions in addition to the present eight. This estimate is based on current projections of population growth. The existing eight divisional boundaries were drawn up more than two decades ago. The location of divisional headquarters and the boundaries of responsibilities between them will take into account the redistribution of population from urban renewal, new private and Housing and Development Board housing estates, and industrial centres.

The programme of reorganisation and modernization is to achieve the following objectives: -

(i) Improved management techniques to enhance administrative efficiency;

(ii) More economical utilization of manpower to secure maximum efficiency in police work;

(iii) Greater and more effective use of science and technology in police work in those areas for the prevention and detection of crimes where innovations have proved cost-effective in advanced countries;

(iv) Better training of the rank and file and the officer corps, to become more efficient in a changing environment; and

(v) Better relations with and more co-operation from the public, without whose support and confidence the Police Force cannot discharge its responsibilities adequately.

The future of the Force will depend on the recruitment of better-qualified personnel in the rank and file. It is recognised that the work conditions, emoluments, and prospects for career advancement require examination. A Committee of Inquiry, headed by Dr Lee Soo Ann, made its report to the Ministry of Home Affairs on 18th June this year. The Ministry is studying the recommendations and decisions on them will be made in the next few months.

To take the drudgery and monotony out of the traditional labour-intensive system of beats and patrols, a new system of mobile team policing is being tried out in two divisions. This system will give the men on patrol greater mobility and constant radio contact with one another and with the divisional headquarters.

The Police has begun studying the pros and cons of computerization of those areas of police work which have been computerized in advanced countries. With the assistance of the Data Processing Department of MINDEF the Police has embarked on a programme no computerize traffic records. A feasibility study will be made to computerize the processing of traffic records, summonses, warrants, and records in the Criminal Records Office.

The Ministry has approached a friendly government for experts to assist the Government in reorganizing and upgrading the Police Academy and the C.I.D. The burgeoning economy and more better educated criminally disposed youths have resulted in a higher number of crimes and more sophistication in the perpetration of them. To cope with this new situation, the police must be equal to the criminal in prevention and detection methods.

No amount of investigative aids, scientific equipment and gadgetry can be effectively used unless we have the right qualities in the officers who make careers in the Police.

The C.I.D, will also have to be re-equipped to improve their capacity for crime investigation. The rudiments of a criminal intelligence service will be expanded into a fully operational organization. The feasibility of a forensic laboratory in the Home Ministry is under study. So, too, a Narcotics Bureau to co-ordinate the efforts of the Police and Customs to prevent the inflow of dangerous drugs into the Republic or the use of the port as transhipment centre. Its first objective, however, must be to nip in the bud any possibility of the spread of drug addiction in Singapore.

Vigilante Corps

An additional role of civil defence has been assigned to the Vigilante Corps.

Part-time national service in the Vigilante Corps has been re-scheduled into three phases of four years each to provide for civil defence service in the second four-year phase. The third phase will be a reserve service.

The Civil Defence Training School will be set up at the Vigilante Corps Leaders' Training Centre at Buona Vista. The centre is scheduled to take in the first unit of: he second intake of national servicemen in November 1971. The Civil Defence School will train members for a national emergency or civil disaster. The school will instruct members in fire fighting, rescue techniques, mechanical aids, first aid and other training relevant to civil defence.

The first intake of national servicemen, comprising 2,171 members, will flow directly into the civil defence service and serve as wardens.