Law Enforcement Activities in Geylang Area

The Second Minister for Home Affairs (Mr S Iswaran) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs): Mdm Speaker, the Police are cognisant of the challenges in the Lorongs in Geylang and have been working closely with the local Members of Parliament, grassroots leaders and various Government agencies to tackle law and order concerns, as well as the disamenities in the area.

In particular, Police have deployed significant resources on the ground in Geylang. Geylang Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) has about 160 Police officers, and that is about 60% more than the manning levels in other NPCs. In the evenings, especially on Fridays and weekends, additional Police fast response cars are deployed to augment the regular fleet, for incident management and to enhance Police response in and around the Lorongs in Geylang. In addition, Special Operations Command (SOC) troopers are deployed in the area to project a strong Police presence on a regular basis. In 2013, SOC troopers were deployed in Geylang on 41 occasions and there were more than 1,000 anti-vice operations conducted in that area. CCTVs and street-lights were added to the back alleys and side lanes to deter streetwalking and other illegal activities.

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With a significant Police presence and through regular enforcement action, illegal activities have been contained, and the number of major offences in the Geylang Lorongs has fallen by 36% since 2008. Police also work closely with MOM, NEA, URA and Singapore Customs in their enforcement operations against illegal lodging houses, illegal hawking and other regulatory offences.

In addition, Police will augment the current 47 CCTV cameras in the area with 160 more CCTV cameras. Police are also working with LTA to further enhance the lighting conditions in the Geylang Lorongs. I want to assure the Member that MHA, Police and other Government agencies remain resolute in our commitment to maintain law and order in Geylang and we will take additional measures where necessary.

I thank the Minister for the response and also for mentioning some of the efforts I have spearheaded with my grassroots leaders in the last several years.

The second supplementary questions. With the present efforts mentioned, feedback of fear, concern and discomfort by residents in the area continues to persist and also escalate, especially recently, with the comment by the Commissioner of Police. What else and how else can the relevant authorities assist to mitigate these concerns?

Second supplementary question: crowding, congregation of people, open soliciting, noise pollution, littering, crime, moonlighting by foreign workers, gambling and a lot more, just to name a few, are actually all the activities that go on hour to hour, day to day, month in, month out, year in, year out. So, I would like to know how is MHA coordinating and working with relevant agencies in a more concerted and concrete way to contain, if not to eradicate, these activities.

Madam, I thank the Member for enumerating the concerns of her residents. And I also want to acknowledge the fact that, as I said in my earlier reply, Police have been working with and appreciate the cooperation from the Member as well as the grassroots leaders and other stakeholders in the area. The Member raised two points. Let me deal with them in turn.

The first is on the Commissioner of Police's comments, and I think she is referring to his comments in the context of the Committee of Inquiry on the Little India riot. I think we should be quite clear about the context of that comment because that would help to put things in perspective. Firstly, I think it

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was in the context of the Commissioner seeking to share with the members of the Committee Police's strategies and tactics in dealing with some of the challenges they face across Singapore and, in this instance, he was highlighting not just Little India but also Geylang as an example. In the context of Geylang, I thought there were three points that were important to note, and I think this would go some way in addressing the Member's questions and the concerns of her residents.

The first is that the situation in Geylang, with its complex social ecosystem, does pose specific policing challenges and that was the point that the Commissioner was making. Second, is that the Police recognise this challenge and that is why there have been these specific additional measures that have been dedicated to enforcement efforts in Geylang. I think that is borne out by the numbers, both in terms of the deployment of resources and the outcomes we have seen. The trend is downwards. Of course, more can be done and residents would certainly prefer more to be achieved.

And, thirdly, I think it is also about the Police having to continually evaluate different operational needs on the ground, from the policing perspective, and from the law and order perspective, in allocating resources. And that is also an important point to recognise – that this is the level of resource allocation dedicated to Geylang because there is an assessment of an operational need on the ground, and the Police will adapt and respond to situations as it evolves. I thought that it is important to clarify so that the Member is also able to reassure her residents on the context and the intent of the comments made by the Commissioner.

Secondly, with respect to what the Police are doing in terms of addressing the other disamenities and so on, in general – I think as the Member is aware, and to share with Members of the House – Police focus on law and order, crime issues and related matters. But, as part of an overall strategy in Geylang, Police also coordinate their activities with other agencies, as I elaborated, whether it is MOM, URA, NEA and so on. And I think the intent is to continue to work on this sort of joint efforts whilst the Police focus, in particular, also on crime and law and order concerns, and I would add that, apart from what I have already shared, the Police also have certain targeted efforts in, for example, other kinds of criminal activities which are not captured in the general enforcement statistics that I have shared with all of you today.

Madam, I am not sure what the Member means by "the root cause of the problem" and, indeed, whether it can be eradicated. But if she means by that, removing it from the Geylang area, whilst it may solve her problem, it would become somebody else's problem and, certainly, for the Police and for MHA, it will remain a pressing problem.