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Singapore still a 'safe and secure home': Ministry of Home Affairs

Police surveillance. Yahoo file photo/Wong Casandra
Police surveillance. Yahoo file photo/Wong Casandra

Singapore continued to be a safe and secure home in 2017, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a statement on Thursday (1 Feb). MHA said Singapore was ranked the world’s second-safest city and the safest in terms of personal security, citing the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2017 Safe Cities Index.

Crime in Singapore remained low in 2017 and the overall crime rate fell, with thefts and violent or serious property crimes having “decreased significantly” since 2016, MHA said.

Improvements were made in other areas: Fewer immigration offenders were arrested, and fewer employers of immigration offenders were nabbed, too.

Fire incidents hit a 40-year low, with fewer fire injuries registered.

Fewer fatal accidents and deaths indicated safer roads, and 2017 saw fewer crashes due to drink driving, speeding and red light running.

Areas of concern

However, there were increased incidences of other crimes. Outrage of modesty cases, especially on public transport and at public entertainment outlets, went up, as did Internet love scams.

E-commerce scams were still a concern despite there being an overall decrease in cases in 2017.

Fires involving electric scooters, e-bicycles and other personal mobility devices remained a concern.

And although deaths on Singapore roads went down, motorcyclists and elderly jaywalkers were still vulnerable to traffic accidents.

The community’s role

According to MHA, the SGSecure movement has made good progress in training and sensitising the community to the threat of terrorism. Now, there are almost 300,000 households with at least one “prepared citizen”.

55 Emergency Preparedness Days were held, with life-saving training conducted.

It said the Home Team reached out to more than 170 secondary schools with exhibitions and school assembly talks.

Businesses were targeted, too, with advisories on contingency planning and protective security launched to help companies review their security plans. Emergency exercises were held at busy leisure spots Clarke Quay and Sentosa, as well as at the new Ng Teng Fong General Hospital in Jurong.

MHA said the SGSecure app has made it to 1.3 million mobile devices, and was enhanced to allow users to subscribe to alerts based on their location, and to receive news alerts on terrorist incidents around the world.

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