SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE (Review by Japanese and British Study Teams)

Mr Rohan bin Kamis asked the Minister for Home Affairs what is the status of the reports submitted by the Japanese and British Study Teams in their reviews of the Singapore Police Force in early 1982; whether the recommendations are acceptable; when these will be implemented, and how will the public be affected.

The Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Chua Sian Chin): Mr Speaker, Sir, Members will recall that two years ago in this House, the Member for Punggol raised the issue of the building of new police stations. Other Members were also interested to know why there was a delay in the resiting of old police stations and the building of new ones when there had been a shift of population concentrations to HDB housing estates. I had explained then that the Police could not proceed to build more police stations as there was a divergence of views between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Home Affairs over the concept of police stations and the policing system. Although the Ministry of Home Affairs had proposed in 1976 to increase the police divisions to 10 with each having a Police Headquarters Station, it was not able to obtain approval for this. To break the impasse, it was decided to bring in foreign experts to study our policing system and to make recommendations.

During the Budget debate this year, I disclosed to this House that a Japanese and a British team were studying our Police Force. The Japanese Study Team was invited to study the feasibility of introducing Koban type of policing system in Singapore with the object of improving police-community relations. The Japanese Study Team recommended that the Koban system could be introduced here, subject to modifications to suit local conditions. A network of 91 police posts was recommended with each constituency having at least one post to work closely with the CCCs, CCMCs and RCs. The larger constituencies would have more than one Police Post. This Police Post System would provide the police presence in housing estates.

The British Study Team also came to the conclusion that a community based scheme of policing such as the Koban system is feasible and can be phased into our reorganized policing system. Recommendations were also made by the British Study Team for a new deployment strategy involving:-

(i) the re-demarcation of police divisional boundaries;

(ii) the addition of police stations;

(iii) the upgrading of the communication system; and

(iv) the increase in the establishment of police officers.

The Government has accepted the recommendations of the two Study Teams. We are therefore pressing ahead with the implementation of the recom- mendations. The British Study Team had recommended that there be 10 Police Headquarters Stations by 1985, 13 by 1991 and 15 beyond 1991. Preparation work has already begun on six new police stations. They are for the proposed two new police divisions and four replacements of existing old stations. The six stations are as follows:-

(i) Woodlands (for new division)

(ii) Clementi (for new division)

(iii) Bedok (replacement for Joo Chiat)

(iv) Ang Mo Kio (replacement for Paya Lebar)

(v) Cantonment (replacement for Central)

(vi) Geylang (replacement for Beach Road)

The boundaries of our police divisions will be re-drawn to be contiguous with constituency boundaries. No longer will Members of Parliament have to deal with two or three OCs as at present because their constituencies cut across police divisional boundaries.

Before implementing our new Neighbourhood Police Post System modelled on the Koban system, we will first carry out an evaluation phase. This is to evaluate operational procedures and gauge public acceptance of the system. The evaluation phase will be carried out in one police division in October next year. 'B' Division has been chosen for this purpose and architects are already working on plans for nine police posts, one in each of the constituencies in the division except Boon Teck which will have two posts. They will be built mainly in HDB void decks. The evaluation phase will be one year.

The Neighbourhood Police Post System requires a radical change of attitudes of our Police officers to be more community-oriented. An orientation programme for the serving officers has begun. New police recruits will not only be trained on neighbourhood policing methods, but will also be inculcated with the spirit of good police-community relations. A team of Japanese experts has been in Singapore for the last two months to conduct training courses for our instructors at our Police Academy. They are imparting their personal experiences and knowledge of the Koban System to our officers. Japanese experts will also be helping us in the preparation of the evaluation phase as well as to evaluate its results.

An elaborate programme is being drawn up to brief community leaders and grassroots organizations on the new Neighbourhood Police Post System. The discussion with the community leaders will centre on the workings of the system, how they could be involved in it so as to maximize the benefits to the community. Initially this will be confined to the constituencies under the evaluation phase. Once the system is ready for full implementation, the other constituencies will be involved.

With the implementation of this new Policing System, policing in Singapore will take on a new dimension by being an integral part of the life of the neighbourhood. We should then be able to drastically reduce our crime rate in all our neighbourhoods.