COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL SECURITY CORPORATION (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

The Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Wong Kan Seng): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, the Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation (CISCO) Act was enacted in July 1972 to establish CISCO. Its objective was to take over from the Singapore Police Force the function of providing security services and armed guards to banks and other commercial and industrial establishments. Since then, the Act was amended in 1973 and 1976 in respect of the provisions concerning financial procedures.

This Bill seeks to amend the CISCO Act in three areas:

(a) to widen the functions of the Corporation to enable it to assist the Singapore Police Force and other Government departments and statutory boards in the discharge of certain functions and duties;

(b) to clarify the scope of the Corporation's legal powers; and

(c) to refine the provisions relating to the administration of the Corporation, in particular, the status of its auxiliary police force.

Main Amendments

Widening the Corporation's functions and clarifying its powers

Over the years, CISCO has advanced from providing armed guards to also providing other forms of security services. For example, it has been involved in the training of officers of the other auxiliary police forces (eg, the CIAS APF, SATS APF, CIS APF, Sentosa APF) at the CISCO Training School and staff of private security agencies. CISCO also provides security consultancy services and operates the central monitoring system for ex-drug addicts and criminal law supervisees placed under electronic supervision by the Prisons Department, Singapore Police Force and Central Narcotics Bureau. The Corporation has also gone into computer security and is now offering a range of computer security software packages for computer users, both in the Government and in the private sector.

There is scope for the various enforcement agencies to delegate more of the functions to the Corporation, for example, police crowd control at major public events such as soccer matches and enforcement against illegal parking. Such duties do not require the officers to have the same level of training which regular police officers undergo. Given the limited manpower of the Police Force, it will be wasteful to deploy regular police officers for such duties. The Police should concentrate on its core functions of crime control and leave peripheral policing functions to CISCO. Some of the other functions which Police could delegate to the Corporation include issuing summons for illegal parking, enforcement against illegal betting at the Turf Club, execution of search warrants, enforcement of intellectual property rights, security checking at the Causeway and the issuing of driving licences.

Clause 4 of the Bill seeks to repeal and re-enact section 7 to enlarge the existing functions of the Corporation by providing expressly in subsection (1)(c) that it is the function of the Corporation to assist the Singapore Police Force in the maintenance of law and order and any department of the Government and statutory board in the discharge of their duties and functions under any written law. The new paragraphs (j), (k), (l) of subsection (2) now specifically provide that the Corporation has the power (i) to provide training to persons employed for the provision of security services; (ii) to provide training of guard dogs and other animals for security-related operations; (iii) to supply, install and maintain security systems including fire safety and computer security systems; and (iv) to provide consultancy services in the area of security including fire safety and computer security.

Overseas commercial activities, joint ventures and forming of subsidiaries

Over the years, the Corporation has also acquired expertise in a wide range of security services for which there is an overseas market, eg, monitoring of central fire alarm systems and the provision of security consultancy services for buildings. To facilitate the Corporation's overseas commercial activities, it has formed subsidiaries and entered into joint ventures with foreign or Singapore companies, including investing in other companies. The Corporation intends to expand further its overseas commercial activities as part of Singapore's regionalisation effort.

Currently, there is no specific provision for this in the Act. Clause 4 of the Bill seeks to re-enact section 7 by creating new paragraphs (g) and (h) to expressly provide CISCO with the legal powers to form or participate in the formation of a company or companies or to enter into a joint venture or partnership in Singapore or elsewhere and that it can subscribe to stocks, shares, bonds and debentures of a company. Similar provisions are also found in the Acts of a number of statutory boards.

Control of Corporation by Minister

In view of the expanded functions of the Corporation, clause 5 of the Bill seeks to create a new section 8A to empower the Minister to give such directions to the Corporation in the exercise and the performance of its functions. Under the new section 8A(2), the Corporation is also required to provide whatever information the Minister requires or to facilitate in providing such information to the Minister in relation to its functions and activities. Similar provisions are also found in the Acts governing other statutory boards, eg, PSA, URA, HDB and EDB.

Protection of Corporation's name and logo

As a statutory board with substantial commercial goodwill, it is important for the Corporation to enshrine into the Act adequate protection of its acronym "CISCO" and its logo. This is to prevent any misuse or tapping of its goodwill which it has accumulated over the years by other persons or organisations. Clause 9 of the Bill seeks to create a new section 22A to make it an offence for anyone to use the acronym "CISCO" or any of its symbol or representation without written permission. The penalty is a fine of not exceeding $2,000 or imprisonment not exceeding six months. Similar provisions are also found in the Acts of a number of other statutory boards (such as JTC, URA, PUB and HDB).

Better control of uniformed personnel in the Corporation

Currently, the Corporation derives its auxiliary police force status from section 73(1) of the Singapore Police Force Act. Section 73(1) provides that the Commissioner of Police, with the approval of the Minister, may authorise the creation of an auxiliary police force within the limits of any specified geographical area. An example of an auxiliary police force formed under this section is the PSA Police. However, CISCO uniformed officers are not confined in the operation to any specified geographical areas. They are deployed all over Singapore to support the Singapore Police Force. For this reason, it would be more appropriate to provide for the establishment of an auxiliary police force under the CISCO Act itself while still allowing the Commissioner of Police to have overall control over the CISCO auxiliary police force with regard to professional and disciplinary matters.

Clause 7 of the Bill therefore seeks to repeal and re-enact section 12 to authorise the Corporation to set up an auxiliary police force for the purpose of carrying out its functions under the Act. The new section also makes provisions relating to the auxiliary police force and the appointment of a commandant of the auxiliary police force. The commandant will have disciplinary powers over the CISCO uniformed personnel subject to the overall control of the Commissioner of Police.

Other Amendments

Mr Speaker, Sir, we have also taken the opportunity to make a number of other minor amendments to the Act. Clause 3 of the Bill seeks to amend section 4(1) of the Act by repealing the proviso to remove the maximum number of persons which can be appointed to the Board of the Corporation. This will enable the Board to appoint more persons with the necessary expertise to help its regionalisation efforts. We have also proposed a number of amendments to bring the Act in line with the other statutory boards' laws, including those on financial procedures.

Clause 6 seeks to repeal and re-enact section 9 to provide for the appointment of a chief executive officer to be known by such designation as the Corporation may determine. With regard to financial procedures, clause 8 seeks to repeal and re-enact section 22 to remove the deadline of 30th June of each year in which the Corporation must submit its financial report to Parliament. Clause 11 also seeks to amend the Schedule to the Act relating to financial procedures to introduce a new paragraph 2A to provide for the auditor to be an approved company auditor under the Companies Act before he can be appointed as an auditor of the Corporation. Furthermore, under the revised paragraph 6, the auditor will be allowed to submit his report direct to the Minister. The penalty for non-compliance with an auditor's request has also been enhanced from $500 to $1,000. These amendments will bring the practice in CISCO in line with the practices of other statutory boards.

Finally, Sir, the proposed amendments are needed to improve the management of CISCO in its role in helping the Police and other law enforcement agencies, and to facilitate its future development expansion.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Wong Kan Seng].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.