CRIMES COMMITTED BY FOREIGN WORKERS FROM 1990 TO 1992

Mr Chia Shi Teck asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether he will provide statistics on the different categories of crimes committed by foreign workers in Singapore from 1990 to 1992 and (b) whether Police is coping well in containing these crimes.

Prof. S. Jayakumar: (a) The breakdown of crimes committed by foreign workers in Singapore for the period 1990-1992 is appended below.

Crimes committed by foreign workers account for about 3-4% of total crimes reported. Furthermore, most of the offences of murder, aggravated hurt, rioting and robbery, committed by them involved victims who were also foreigners.

There has been a recent increase in crimes committed at construction sites, including theft and murder. Police believe that these crimes are committed by foreigners (not necessarily workers) who came to Singapore on social visit passes and who target construction sites for their crimes. Police is monitoring this closely. (b) As there is no discernible trend suggesting increase in crimes committed by foreign workers, Police can cope and are of the view that the situation is under control. BREAKDOWN OF CRIMES COMMITTED BY FOREIGN WORKERS FOR SELECTED OFFENCES IN SINGAPORE FOR THE PERIOD 1990 - 1993 _________________________________________________________________ OFFENCE YEAR 1990 1991 1992 _________________________________________________________________ Murder 2 4 1 Aggravated Hurt 23 11 17 Rioting 7 4 4 Rape 4 1 5 Outraging Modesty 27 24 26 Robbery 17 17 11 Snatch Theft 1 3 0 _________________________________________________________________ TOTAL NO. OF CRIMES RECORDED _________________________________________________________________ Murder 44 50 42 Aggravated Hurt 426 426 449 Rioting 199 189 168 Rape 111 74 80 Outraging Modesty 749 783 834 Robbery 1577 1404 1066 Snatch Theft 999 678 669 _________________________________________________________________ PERCENTAGE OF CRIMES COMMITTED BY FOREIGN WORKERS _________________________________________________________________ Murder 4.5 8.0 2.4 Aggravated Hurt 5.4 2.4 3.8 Rioting 3.5 2.1 2.4 Rape 3.6 1.4 6.3 Outraging Modesty 3.6 3.1 3.1 Robbery 1.1 1.2 1.0 Snatch Theft 0.1 0.4 0.0 _________________________________________________________________ Source: Singapore Police Force.