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Singapore Crime and Law Enforcement
In 1984, the most recent year for which complete
statistics
were available on crime in Singapore, the country reported
35,728
arrests. The incidence of serious violent crime in that
year was
considered low and included 69 murders, 677 assaults, and
1,620
armed robberies. In comparison to the eighty-two other
countries
that reported criminal statistics to the International
Criminal
Police Organization (ICPO) in 1984, Singapore had a low
rate of
assaults and was close to the median for three other types
of
crime: murder, sexual offenses, and thefts. Although
Singapore did
not report figures on drug arrests to the ICPO, the sale
and use of
illegal drugs was known to be one of the country's most
serious
criminal problems.
In the 1980s, police instituted several new schemes
designed to
reduce the time required to dispatch officers to the scene
of a
crime and to improve the investigation capabilities of the
force.
In 1983 the Neighborhood Police Force System was
introduced as an
experimental project in one of Singapore's police
divisions. This
system, based on a successful Japanese program, placed
small police
substations in residential neighborhoods. The police
officers
assigned to those stations instituted crime prevention
programs
through their association with community organizations,
and they
assisted the criminal investigation department by
soliciting
residents of the neighborhood for information on specific
cases. By
1989 the experimental project's success led to the
establishment of
neighborhood police posts in all ten police divisions.
A new crime report computer network was completed in
1987
enabling officers in their patrol cars to be notified
minutes after
a crime had been reported. The computer network maintained
a record
of the call and the status of the police units dispatched
to the
scene of the incident. During the 1980s, police routinely
took
blood and urine samples from all criminal suspects to
determine if
there was a possible link between the use of drugs and the
suspect's behavior at the time of his arrest. This program
enabled
police and the courts to improve procedures for dealing
with drug
addicts who resorted to crime to support their habit.
Any citizen indicted for a crime had the right to
obtain legal
counsel and to be brought to trial expeditiously, unless
the
government determined that the person was involved in
subversion,
drug trafficking, or was a member of a criminal
organization.
Trials were conducted by magistrates or judges without a
jury, and
in most cases defendants could appeal their verdicts to a
higher
court. The death penalty could be imposed for individuals
convicted
of murder, kidnapping, trafficking in arms, or importing
and
selling drugs; between 1975 and 1989, twenty-four
prisoners were
executed for various drug offenses. Mandatory beating with
a cane
and imprisonment were required for most serious crimes,
including
rape, robbery, and theft. Government interference in the
judicial
process was prohibited by the Constitution. The chief
justice of
the Supreme Court and the attorney general were
responsible for
guaranteeing the impartiality of the courts and the
protection of
the rights of the accused, respectively
(see Major Governmental Bodies
, ch. 4).
Data as of December 1989
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