PLANS TO COMBAT COMPUTER CRIME

Mr Rohan bin Kamis asked the Minister for Home Affairs, with widespread usage of computers in Singapore and the increasing rate of computer crime, what are the plans to equip our Police Force, particularly the Commercial Crime Division, to meet this new challenge in terms of manpower and expertise, and, if necessary, legislation.

Mr Chua Sian Chin: There has been only one known case of computer crime reported o the Commercial Crime Division. It was reported in 1979. (For details of the case, please see Annex A, cols. 99 -100). Such crimes do not as yet pose a problem. However, with the widespread use of computers there may be more computer-related crimes in the future.

Computer-related crimes can be divided into two broad categories. In the first category, the offender tampers with the input or output forms and peripheral equipment of a computer system for wrongful gain. Experience in the West has shown that most computer-related crimes fall under this category. Police officers do not need to have a thorough knowledge of computers to handle this category of computer-related crimes as they can be investigated just like any other case of cheating, CBT, forgery, theft, etc. However some basic knowledge of the computer would be useful to investigate such cases.

The second category of computer-related crimes are those which involve tampering with the internal processes of the computer. Officers investigating this category of crimes need to have a thorough understanding of the computer system in order to gather the necessary evidence. Police officers investigating this category of computer-related crimes will require the assistance of competent computer professionals. Such competent professionals can be found in the Computer Systems Division of the Police Force, our National Computer Board and private companies.

Since 1981, Police officers have been sent for seminars and courses conducted locally as well as overseas to equip them with sufficient knowledge to handle computer-related crimes. Six officers have attended various training courses in the investigation of computer-related crimes conducted at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia, USA, the Australian Police College at Manly, Australia and the Mitchell's College, Australia. The Police Force will continue to step up its training programme for officers to ensure that they are well equipped to investigate computer crimes.

I am also glad to inform the Member of Parliament for Telok Blangah that a British Study Team was recently in Singapore to, among other things, make an overall study of the Commercial Crime Division. The Team's views and recommendations on computer-related crimes were as follows:-

a In the investigation of computer-related crime, it is unrealistic to expect that the personnel of any law enforcement agency can keep abreast of every technical advance in a rapidly developing industry. With suitable training, they are, however, able to become relatively expert on basic computer technology and the more common forms of computer-related crime.

b A close relationship should be maintained with the National Computer Board and arrangements made for it to provide technical assistance when required.

c The Commercial Crime Division is to be re-structured with one team of investigators assigned the responsibility of dealing with all computer-related crimes. The Inspector in charge of the Team should be sent for computer-related courses overseas.

On the question of legislation pertaining to computer-related crimes, the Team advised that this is still the subject of considerable international debate, and no all embracing legislation has yet been adopted in UK and USA. There is no immediate need in Singapore for new legislation. However the Team recommended that Singapore should keep abreast of developments in the advanced countries, with the ultimate objective of producing a statute covering the criminal aspects of computer abuse.

The Team also recommended that the Commercial Crime Division be restructured with the formation of operational teams, each to operate as a self-contained, cohesive unit to handle cases. The establishment of the Division is to be reviewed annually so as to cope with the increasing workload.

The Team's report is now under consideration by the Ministry.

Annex A