Overview of 2015 Safety and Security Situation

• Singapore remains one of the safest cities in the world, in 2015.
  

The law and order situation continues to be favourable. Crime remains low, although there was a slight increase from 2014 due to a significant increase in online crimes. Almost all other crime classes registered a fall. Violent/serious property crimes and Housebreaking and related crimes have dropped to the lowest levels in 20 years.  The number of unlicensed moneylending harassment cases continues to decline and is the lowest in 10 years. Re-offending by ex-offenders remains low.

• The drug situation remains stable. The number of immigration offenders arrested continued to remain low. There was a decrease in fire incidents and fire fatalities remain low, under 0.1 per 100,000 population on average in the last 10 years.

Our road safety situation has improved, with a fall in fatalities from road traffic accidents, although the number of injury accidents went up slightly.

• Several trends remain of concern. Online crimes rose sharply, especially scams. This has been the trend since 2013.

The number of new drug abusers, in particular those aged below 30 years old, continued to rise.

The number of arrested harbourers and employers of immigration offenders has increased.

Unauthorised change of use of premises and illegal fire safety works continue to cause the highest number of fire safety violations.   

• The Home Team extends its appreciation to the community and volunteers for the strong support and partnership in keeping Singapore safe and secure in 2015. Through initiatives such as Save-A-Life and the pilot Neighbourhood Active Responder Programme, the Home Team will enlarge our network of community responders who are our trusted partners in keeping Singapore safe and secure.

• While our law and order situation remains positive, Singapore continues to face various threats, the most significant being terrorism.  The Home Team will do its utmost to protect Singapore against terrorism, and be ready to respond decisively should there be a terrorist attack. The public also plays a major role, by being alert to potential dangers and warning signs of terrorism, such as individuals who may be self-radicalised. We must stay united if a terrorist attack were to happen, and be able to recover as one people.    

• The Home Team is facing increasing work load in many areas. In the last five years, the number of emergency ambulance calls has been increasing at a rate of about 5 percent a year. This trend will worsen as our population continues to age. SCDF will optimise its limited resources to deliver swift medical support to critical cases, and calibrate its response for non-critical cases. This will require the public's support and cooperation, among others, to call 1777 for non-emergency ambulance needs. Similarly, the public's understanding will be required as ICA deals with increasing traveller volumes at our checkpoints. Our officers will continue to work round-the-clock to minimise inconvenience to the public, with the foremost priority of keeping Singapore and Singaporeans safe.