MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

PROF S JAYAKUMAR Minister for Home Affairs

The Ministry of Home Affairs will step up action to improve road traffic safety, and to reduce crime and drug abuse. It will update its civil defence programmes.

Law and Order

2. To reduce injury and death in traffic accidents, the Traffic Police will require vehicles to have child harnesses, and rear passengers to use seat belts. It will consider giving incentives to drivers with good driving records.

3. New legislation to combat computer crimes will be introduced by 1992.

4. The Police will:

a. study how neighbourhood police posts can provide better community policing;

b. upgrade crime investigation through a computerised criminal intelligence system, voice-print analysis and other scientific means; and

c. upgrade the Marine Police to protect our coastal waters.

5. The Police will build a new Police Academy, and new buildings to house the Police HQ, Traffic Police and Marine Police.

Anti-Drug Measures

6. We will introduce drug asset seizure legislation in Parliament in 1992. Besides taking enforcement action against drug addicts and traffickers, Central Narcotics Bureau will co-ordinate the drug aftercare programme to help ex-drug addicts re-integrate into the community.

Rehabilitation of Offenders

7. We will build two new maximum security prisons by 1993 and a new drug rehabilitation centre (DRC) replacing existing outdated DRCs by 1996. This will reduce over-crowding, and free manpower from security functions for rehabilitation programmes.

8. The Prisons Department is using the Electronic Monitoring System to monitor drug abusers released on supervision. It will extend this system to Police criminal supervisees, in order to monitor them more effectively.

Civil Defence

9. The SCDF will complete the nation-wide public warning system by 1992. It will build a new Civil Defence Academy and a new SCDF HQ by 1996. It will conduct nationwide emergency exercises involving the community.

Immigration and National Registration

10. Immigration Department will install a voice processing system in 1992 to answer telephone enquiries from members of the public.

11. The immigration control at Finger Pier will be relocated to World Trade Centre in 1992 to cater for the increase in traffic to Batam and Bintan. The Woodlands Checkpoint will be redeveloped to meet the growing volume of cross-border traffic. When it is completed, the immigration and customs clearance facilities at Keppel Railway Station will be shifted to Woodlands.

12. National Registration Department (NRD) will introduce a One-Stop Change-Of-Address reporting system in 1992. When a person reports his change of address, NRD will automatically inform all relevant government departments and statutory boards.