Home Team to get 2,000 more officers over 5 years
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — The Home Team is set to get more resources in the form of manpower and funding, to prepare itself to handle the challenges of terrorism and transnational and cyber crime, while keeping up with domestic policing and emergency needs.
Over the next five years, 2,000 more officers will be added to the Home Team — which comprises the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force among others — while the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) expects its spending to grow from 1.1 per cent of nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in financial year 2014 to around 1.3 per cent of GDP.
Already, spending will increase by 11.7 per cent this financial year and reach 1.2 per cent of GDP, said Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean at the MHA Committee of Supply debate yesterday. The extra officers will cope with the growing number of travellers, boost front-line policing and emergency medical services, and improve response to public order incidents and fires.
The ministry also expects to increase its development expenditure gradually from about 8 per cent of its total expenditure in the past five years to about 20 per cent over the next five years, to leverage technology. “We will allow technology to do the things that technology does better, so that officers can do other things that, with their personal interaction and judgment, can do better,” said Mr Teo, who is also Deputy Prime Minister.
Elaborating on the security challenge posed by terrorism, Mr Teo noted that the Sydney siege last year, the Paris attacks in January and the Copenhagen shooting last month took place even when these countries were on high alert.
Pointing to the growing threat posed by the Islamic State (ISIS), Mr Teo said: “Self-radicalised individuals may also be influenced by (ISIS) to carry out attacks in their home countries. Such attacks are often opportunistic, and therefore, difficult to detect and prevent.”
To combat this threat, borders, infrastructure and intelligence capabilities will be strengthened and the Government will work with international partners to identify and pre-empt terrorist threats. “We take decisive action early to place persons who pose a threat to our security under detention or restriction orders,” Mr Teo said. Since 2002, 66 have been detained under the Internal Security Act, of whom 57 have been released.
Individuals and community and religious groups also play an important part in maintaining vigilance and social harmony.
Acknowledging concerns raised by Members of Parliament on whether Singapore is ready to withstand a terrorist attack, Mr Teo said society must stand united as a community and condemn the violent acts. “We must also carry on with our daily lives, reach out to each other and not allow fear to paralyse our society,” he said.
To improve immigration clearance and border security, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) will conduct a trial at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to capture the fingerprints of all arriving persons from next month, to verify travellers’ identities before allowing entry into Singapore, and facilitate automated self-clearance during departure. If successful, this will be gradually rolled out to all checkpoints.
In addition, the ICA will operate 10 more car counters at Old Woodlands Checkpoint to handle the high traveller volume at Woodlands Checkpoint. To tackle transnational and cybercrime, a new Cybercrime Command within the Criminal Investigation Department, specialising in cyber-investigations and digital forensics, will be set up.
Mr Teo also noted that Singapore’s changing domestic operating environment places greater demands on the Home Team. The Government expects the demand for emergency medical services to rise as the number of elderly citizens doubles to about 900,000 by 2030. “We will also need new police and fire stations to serve new towns and new commercial developments,” he said.
Manpower in the Home Team had grown from about 19,300 to 24,700 officers in the past five years. Aside from the additional 2,000 officers, the police have started recruiting for the Special Operations Command and aim to recruit about 150 officers by the end of this year.
