Overview of 2017 Safety and Security Situation

1.  Singapore remains one of the safest cities in the world. The Economist Intelligence Unit Safe Cities Index 2017 Report ranked Singapore as the second safest city in the world, and first in the domain of Personal Security.

2.  Crime remained low and the overall crime rate fell. The number of Theft and Related Crimes and Violent/Serious Property Crimes decreased significantly compared to 2016.

3.  The local drug situation remained stable and Singapore remains relatively drug-free, even as regional and global drug situations continue to worsen.

4.  Recidivism among ex-offenders also remained low.

5.  Compared to 2016, improvements were also registered in the following areas:

• There was a fall in the total number of immigration offenders arrested. The number of harbourers and employers of immigration offenders arrested also decreased.

• Fire incidents in Singapore was the lowest in 40 years, and there was a drop in the number of fire injuries.

• Our roads were safer, with a decrease in the number of fatal accidents and fatalities. There were also fewer accidents related to Drink Driving, Speeding and Red-light Running.

Several Trends of Concern

6.  However, there are some areas of concern. 

• The number of cases of Outrage of Modesty (especially on public transport and at public entertainment outlets) and Internet Love Scams went up. Although E-commerce Scamcases saw a decrease, it remains a concern due to the high number of reported cases;

• Increase in emergency medical service calls vis-à-vis finite manpower resources, thus requiring prioritization of medical response;
   
• Fires involving electric scooters, electric bicycles and other personal mobility devices remain a concern; 

• More traffic accidents involving elderly pedestrians who jaywalked;
   
• Motorcyclists continued to be over-represented in traffic accidents;

• The proportion of young drug abusers among new abusers remained high.

Good momentum in SGSecure movement – Be Prepared, Our Response Matters

7.  The Home Team has worked hard to enhance our capabilities to detect, prevent and respond to a terrorist attack. The community, however, must be equally prepared to play its part in dealing with the threat.

8.  Together with our partner agencies, we have made good progress on the SGSecure movement, which aims to sensitise, train and mobilise our community to help prevent and respond to a terrorist attack (see also Annex). Since its launch to end-2017:

• 55 Emergency Preparedness (EP) Days have been held to prepare residents for a terrorist attack and to equip them with life-saving skills like CPR-AED and first aid. We also conducted close to 300,000 house visits to engage residents on how they can protect themselves and their families.

• The Home Team, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, reached out to over 170 secondary schools, through mobile exhibitions and school assembly talks.  

• Advisories on Contingency Planning and Protective Security were launched to help companies review their security plans and infrastructure. We also worked with stakeholders and the Ministry of Manpower to organise exercises in places such as Clarke Quay, Sentosa, and Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, to put their contingency plans to the test.

• Counter-Terrorism Seminars were held for more than 200 religious and community organisations, involving over 600 representatives, as well as more than 2,800 company representatives representing workplaces.

• The SGSecure mobile app was enhanced to allow users to subscribe to alerts based on their location, and to receive news alerts on terrorist incidents around the world. More than 1.3 million devices are now equipped with the app.

9.  The Home Team will continue to build on this momentum, to sustain the awareness and raise the preparedness of our people and institutions to face the terrorism threat together.

Annex A – SGSecure Progress Update (PDF, 369KB)

Annex B – HT Overview Infographic 2017 (PDF, 4MB)