SG Police Force Toyota Corolla Altis E140

Crime rates in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

are some of the lowest in the world, with petty crimes such as

pickpocketing Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for Misdirection (magic ...

and street

theft Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

rarely occurring, and

violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violence, violent act is t ...

being extremely rare. Penalties for drug offences such as

trafficking Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

in Singapore are severe, and include the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Rates of Crimes of Foreign Workers

In December 2013 Prime Minister

Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Par ...

said: "I don’t think that is fair or justifiable because their (foreign workers) crime rates are, in fact, lower than Singaporeans in general." In January 2014 Mrs.

Lina Chiam Lina Loh Woon Lee ( zh, s=罗文丽, p=Luó Wénlì; born 1949), also known as Lina Chiam, is a Singaporean former politician. She was previously a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament between 2011 and 2015 and was the committee member of Singap ...

Singapore People's Party The Singapore People's Party (abbreviation: SPP) is a political party in Singapore. History SPP was founded on 21 November 1994 by Sin Kek Tong, who led a pro-Chiam See Tong faction out of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP). Over two years, ...

asked in Parliament, the breakdown of crimes committed by Singaporeans, permanent residents and foreigners respectively between 2009 and 2013. Deputy Prime Minister

Teo Chee Hean Teo Chee Hean ( zh, s=张志贤, poj=Tiuⁿ Chì-hiân, p=Zhāng Zhìxián; born 27 December 1954) is a Singaporean politician and former two-star rear-admiral who has been serving as Senior Minister of Singapore since 2019 and Coordinating Min ...

replied that during the period, more than 18,000 persons were arrested each year, of which 20% were foreigners with an arrest rate of 272 per 100,000 foreigners, while the arrest rate for residents was 385 per 100,000 residents. No breakdown between Singaporeans and permanent residents was given.

Scams

However, there was a noteworthy increase in awareness about scamming in 2015. From just 66 credit-for-sex scams in 2014, the number increased to 1,203 within 2015, with the reported victims being cheated a total of around S$2.9 million. The largest amount of money scammed include S$74,000 in a single case. A fraud syndicate was busted in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

during December 2015 when a total of 43 were arrested from scams operated from

WeChat WeChat () is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has bee ...

call centres in Mainland China. During the same period, internet love scams where women were the primary target and victims, also rose from 198 in 2014 to 383 in 2015, involving around S$12 million in total. The largest amount of money cheated include S$528,000 in a single case.

E-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

cheating cases increased by about 30 per cent between 2014 and 2015. Noted concerns as of 2016 may also include

impersonation An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: *Entertainment: An entertainer impersonates a celebrity, generally for entertainment, and makes fun of ...

and employment scams.

Sex trafficking

Sex trafficking in Singapore Sex trafficking in Singapore is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Republic of Singapore. Singapore is primarily a destination country for sexually trafficked persons. Trafficking process and ...

is a significant problem. Singaporean and foreign women and girls have been forced into prostitution in brothels and been physically and psychologically abused.

Crime deterrence

The National Crime Prevention Council of Singapore maintains a web portal Scam Alert that offers scam prevention campaign posters and also encourages victims to come forward to share their stories. The Neighbourhood Watch Zone scheme was formed in 27 April 1997 and today includes the Citizens On Patrol (COP) initiative, which conducts regular foot patrol with

community policing Community policing, or community-oriented policing (COP), is a strategy of policing that focuses on developing relationships with community members. It is a philosophy of full-service policing that is highly personal, where an officer patrols ...

. Officers go around each neighbourhood to project police presence and to disseminate crime prevention pamphlet to the residents.

References

External links