April - June 2010 - Bureau of Police Research and Development

Singapore Community Policing Experimentpolicing is linked, then, to morality and through it topatriotism. Preventing crime is what good citizensmust do, just as they must work hard, be courteous,and limit the size of their families. Crime preventionis an aspect of national ambition, and the policeand the public recognize that the police make adirect contribution".AccountabilityAs the NPPs are part of the patrol branch of thepolice force, they report to the patrol commander asat precinct police stations when they carry out crimeprevention duties or interact with the community.NPPs have also improved substantially thewillingness of the public to report matters to thepolice. Reports from the public have increased from12 per cent to 56 per cent in areas where NPPs havebeen established 6 . It is also very gratifying that closelinks with community organizations have not bredcorruption in the police or resulted in the unequalenforcement in the law.TrainingCommunity policing requires new forms oftraining. For community policing to worksuccessfully, Singapore police felt that allpersonnel have to be properly trained. Every onemust know the nature of duties to be performedby the police in community policing. This had theeffect in preventing any growth of gulf betweenthose in the new program and officers assignedto customer duties. This also created a receptiveclimate for it within the force. Singapore policealso use evaluation as a tool for persuading peopleto opt in favour of community policing. The newpolice techniques were evidence based.Evidences were collected about the pilot projectbefore a decision was taken to make communitypolicing an operational strategy. Communitypolicing was not however, used to challenge the6 Singapore Police Evaluation Reports on NPP, 1984.7 David H. Bayley: Research Report - A Model of CommunityPolicing: The Singapore Storyposition of politicians. Politicians were allowedto take full credit for the initiatives launched bythe police. The police "strove for a cooperativerather than a competitive relationship with thelocal politicians 7 ".Problem SolvingThe NPP system of community policing served theSingapore Police Force (SPF) well from 1983 to1997. The SPF undertook a survey of its operationalstrategy and realize that future would not be builtthrough perfecting the past, though it had been quitesuccessful. There is a need for innovation to meetnew policing challenges and public needs.Community policing has also been refinedincrementally in Singapore. Police now seek toplay problem-solving role and endeavour forresolution of certain community law and orderproblems that emerged from systemic causes. Thisproactive problem-solving approach establishesstronger bonds between the police and thecommunity.An example of a good problem-solving case isthat by Hong Kah, South NPP. The NPP used toreceive complaints about the coffee-shopvisitors drinking after mid-night when coffeeshops were closed. Their unruly behaviourcaused public unease and frustration. NPPofficers, instead of merely taking action againstthe lawbreakers, sought the cooperation of theowners of the coffee shops to stop the sale ofthe beer half-an-hour before the end of thestipulated licensing time; to stack up the chairsand chain them up before closing the coffeeshops; and remove all empty bottles from thetables to prevent their use as weapons. Thepolice also exerted peer group pressure on theowners of problematic coffee shops. They wereasked to follow the good practices of theircounterparts. The above measures weresuccessful in curbing the problems and theresidents of the area now enjoy restful nights.model and broughtabout a completeconversion of thesystem between theyears 1983 to 1989.All these changes weremade within a shortperiod of time andwithout expenditure ofresources beyond thenormal budget.The Indian Police Journal Vol. LVII-No. 2, April-June, 2010 15➢