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Community policing nets results
by Leong Wee Keat
05:55 AM Jun 11, 2010
SINGAPORE - His regular walks after dinners are not leisurely strolls. Retiree Peter Lo Shui Sung keeps an eye out during patrols with other residents of his Sembawang neighbourhood. With police officers' mobile phone numbers at the ready, Mr Lo will alert them if he finds anything amiss.
Though he has yet to help the police make an arrest, other residents involved in the United Against Crime project with the Ang Mo Kio Police Division have achieved greater success in combating crime. For example, residents helped in the arrest of 12 unlicensed moneylenders during a seven-month period from last year to February this year.
Public-assisted arrests and community policing have been in the spotlight in the past two weeks - two helped to detain a suspected murderer, while two boys chased an elderly robber in a separate case.
The Police's Community Safety and Security Programme (CSSP) - which brings grassroots organisations together with Home Team agencies to tackle safety and security concerns in their neighbourhood - has also grown. There were around 42 grassroots projects in 1998 but now there are an average of 700 projects each year.
Mr Lo, 64, thinks more citizens should be encouraged to take part in community policing. "The police cannot be omnipresent in their patrol cars," he said.
Clementi's Youth Community Outreach Patrol programme, known as Youth Cop, aims to tackle crime upstream. At-risk students are roped into community outreach programmes and 90 students have participated in the scheme since its start in 2007. Currently, 50 are enrolled, said Students Care Service senior social worker Lee Seng Meng, who felt youth could provide useful guidance where adults may be less effective. The 2005 National Youth Survey, for example, found 73 per cent of youth turn to friends for emotional support.
Community policing remains one of the force's "key policing strategies in maintaining the safety and security", the Police's Community Involvement assistant director Superintendant Sherrin Chua said. "The CSSP platform promotes regular collaboration and interaction with the community, who would also serve as extra eyes and ears for the police in preventing and deterring crime," she added.
by Leong Wee Keat
05:55 AM Jun 11, 2010
SINGAPORE - His regular walks after dinners are not leisurely strolls. Retiree Peter Lo Shui Sung keeps an eye out during patrols with other residents of his Sembawang neighbourhood. With police officers' mobile phone numbers at the ready, Mr Lo will alert them if he finds anything amiss.
Though he has yet to help the police make an arrest, other residents involved in the United Against Crime project with the Ang Mo Kio Police Division have achieved greater success in combating crime. For example, residents helped in the arrest of 12 unlicensed moneylenders during a seven-month period from last year to February this year.
Public-assisted arrests and community policing have been in the spotlight in the past two weeks - two helped to detain a suspected murderer, while two boys chased an elderly robber in a separate case.
The Police's Community Safety and Security Programme (CSSP) - which brings grassroots organisations together with Home Team agencies to tackle safety and security concerns in their neighbourhood - has also grown. There were around 42 grassroots projects in 1998 but now there are an average of 700 projects each year.
Mr Lo, 64, thinks more citizens should be encouraged to take part in community policing. "The police cannot be omnipresent in their patrol cars," he said.
Clementi's Youth Community Outreach Patrol programme, known as Youth Cop, aims to tackle crime upstream. At-risk students are roped into community outreach programmes and 90 students have participated in the scheme since its start in 2007. Currently, 50 are enrolled, said Students Care Service senior social worker Lee Seng Meng, who felt youth could provide useful guidance where adults may be less effective. The 2005 National Youth Survey, for example, found 73 per cent of youth turn to friends for emotional support.
Community policing remains one of the force's "key policing strategies in maintaining the safety and security", the Police's Community Involvement assistant director Superintendant Sherrin Chua said. "The CSSP platform promotes regular collaboration and interaction with the community, who would also serve as extra eyes and ears for the police in preventing and deterring crime," she added.
