CRIME SITUATION FOR YEAR 2007 OVERVIEW
The crime situation registered an improvement in 2007. Overall crime reported in 2007 fell from 33,263 to 32,545 cases when compared to 2006. Overall crime rate also fell from 742 to 695 per 100,000 population in 2007, which was the third-lowest in ten years.
Housebreaking and related crimes fell, from 1201 cases to 925 cases. In particular, the offence of housebreaking registered only 865 cases, which is the lowest in the last 20 years.
Theft and related crimes1, which generally constitute more than half of overall crime each year, fell for the second year running from 20,301 to 19,522 cases in 2007.
Of the six crime classes2, only commercial crimes recorded a significant increase of 330 cases. Violent property crimes increased slightly while crimes against persons and miscellaneous crimes did not register any significant change.
Police are particularly concerned with confrontational property crimes against the elderly3, and cheating and related offences in 2007. Specifically, elderly victims falling prey to snatch theft and robbery increased by 71 persons, from 170 to 241 in 2007. Elderly victims of cheating and related offences also rose from 97 to 115 persons in 2007. The emergence of various cheating phone scams targeting the unsuspecting public contributed to the rise of cheating and related offences. In addition, there were also concerns over statutory rape and outrage of modesty cases involving youths.
The number of arrests made by the Police marginally decreased from 19,639 to 19,371. For youth arrests4, a total of 4,135 youths were arrested for crime in 2007, as compared to 4,280 in 2006. Six out of every ten youths arrested were involved in shop theft, other theft or rioting.
CRIME CLASSES
Theft and related crimes
Theft and related crimes registered 19,522 cases in 2007, down 779 cases from the 20,301 cases in 2006. The major sub-categories, including shop theft, theft occurring at residences, commercial and hotel premises, and theft at public areas such as eating places, all registered decreases.
Housebreaking and related crimes
Housebreaking and related crimes registered 925 cases in 2007, and down significantly by 276 cases compared to the 1,201 cases in 2006. In particular, the number of housebreaking cases, at 865, was the lowest for the last 20 years. The large overall decrease could be mainly attributed to fewer break-ins at industrial premises (from 178 to 119 cases), commercial premises (from 386 to 333 cases) and private residential premises (from 171 to 120 cases). Break-ins at childcare/education centers, a key concern for the past few years, also fell from 62 to 30 cases in 2007. In addition, Police also arrested 18 serial offenders in 2007 who were responsible for more than 170 cases of housebreaking. A Police-community partnership in this area is the initiative where portable window and door alarms were installed at family service centers and education centers. Upon hearing the alarm, community watch groups on the floors above these premises would call Police immediately.
Commercial crimes
Commercial crimes comprising mainly of cheating and related offences registered 3,489 cases in 2007, compared to the 3,159 cases in 2006. The increase is attributed to different variations of cheating phone scams using the lucky draw/lottery, kidnap and impersonation of court officials/police officers ruse. Such phone scams, practically unheard of in 2006, claimed 378 victims who lost $4.6m in 2007.
Crimes against persons
Crimes against persons registered 4,084 cases in 2007, compared to the 4,103 cases in 2006. This category refers to crimes where the victim is an individual and suffers bodily harm as a result of the crime. It includes offences such as murder, rioting, rape and outrage of modesty among others. There were 18 murders in 2007, compared to 17 in 2006, all of which were isolated and unrelated. All, except one, were solved. Excluding statutory rape cases, rape fell from 80 in 2006 to 72 in 2007.
Violent property crimes
Violent property crimes, which are made up primarily of robbery cases, registered 1,025 cases in 2007, compared to 1,004 cases in 2006. This category refers to crimes which involves the taking of money or property by force or threat of force against the victim.
Miscellaneous crimes
Miscellaneous crimes registered 3,500 cases in 2007 compared to 3,495 cases in 2006. This category comprises various offences such as mischief, vandalism, bomb hoaxes, and bringing prohibited items into Singapore.
AREAS OF INTEREST
Public to guard against phone scams
Phone scams targeting the general public have emerged in various forms in 2007. Lucky draw/Lottery scam involves victims who are persuaded to make advance payments to claim a prize. In 2007, 325 victims fell prey to this scam and lost more than S$4 million in cash, ranging between S$200 and S$350,000, when they were asked to transfer money via remittance houses to various overseas recipients.
The “Kidnap Hoax” first surfaced in Aug 2007. In general, the conmen would call the victim and claim that one of their family members had been kidnapped. Following which, the conmen would demand that the victim transfer a sum of ransom money to them, failing which the “kidnapped” family member would be harmed. In reality, the kidnappings did not take place. Conmen were successful in cheating four victims of more than S$80,000 in all.
Another scam first noted in Sep 2007 involved conmen falsely claiming to be a Supreme Court/Police representative and accuse victims to be involved in criminal offences (e.g. money laundering). The conmen would ask the victims to make money transfers via remittance houses to close the investigations into their offences. In reality, the victims were not involved in any criminal case. The culprits were successful in 49 cases and victims were cheated of more than S$500,000. The amounts cheated per case ranged between S$1,000 and S$50,000. All the transactions went through before victims could cancel the transactions.
Police have actively engaged stakeholders such as remittance and financial institutions, through road-shows and training sessions, to alert them to potential victims so as to foil these scams. Public education through the media and grassroots engagement was also the key to disseminating warnings of such scams to residents.
Crimes against the elderly remain a concern
Police are also concerned with snatch theft and robbery against the elderly as the number of elderly victims falling prey to snatch theft and robbery increased from 170 to 241 in 2007. Generally, elderly victims were robbed in lifts and at common areas of housing estates such as void-decks and staircases and happened between the early-morning and afternoon when victims were alone and going about their daily activities. Most elderly victims of snatch theft were lone women on their way home or going about their daily activities when the incidents took place.
Police and the National Crime Prevention Council conducted 106 Senior Citizens’ chit-chat sessions in 2007 reaching out to over 66,000 senior citizens on crime prevention. These outreach programs utilized over 100 Crime Prevention Ambassadors (CPAs) who speak the four main languages and common Chinese dialects. Being peers, there is a sense of ease of sharing crime prevention concerns between the CPAs and the participants.
Outrage of modesty cases and statutory rape against youths
Statutory rape cases involve females aged under 14 years who have had consensual sexual intercourse. In 2007, there were 57 statutory rape cases, compared to 38 cases in 2006. Similar to previous years, boyfriends/ex-boyfriends and friends form the bulk of such cases in 2007.
Outrage of modesty cases involving youth student victims numbered 416 cases in 2007, compared to 396 cases in 2006. In general, these offences took place at common areas of public housing estates like void-decks and corridors during the day on weekdays.
Enhanced laws against metal thefts
Despite the fall in theft and related crimes, there were concerns over cases where metal items were stolen. In 2007, there were 1,291 reports of metal thefts, up 204 cases from the 1,087 cases recorded last year. Theft of metal occurred at both public and private premises and common metal items stolen include cables, lightning conductors, raw materials, prayer urns, dry-riser lugs5, signages, drain covers and doors of cable television over-ground boxes.
In 2007, 197 persons, mainly males aged between 30 and 50 years, were arrested for metal thefts involved in 149 cases. The total value of metallic items stolen was more than S$6 million in 2007, compared to approximately S$4 million in 2006.
Police have tightened the legislative framework to tackle metal theft by making it difficult to dispose metal items. A good example is the recent arrest of a man who transacted almost two tones in metal parts. Police will continue to work closely with property owners, government agencies and town councils to educate them on implementing possible prevention or detection measures to curb such thefts.
YOUTHS AS PERPETRATORS OF CRIMES
Police arrested 4,135 youths in 2007. This is a decrease of 145 persons compared to the 4,280 youths arrested in the previous year. They accounted for 21% of the total persons arrested. This is a slight decrease from the 22% registered in 2006, but this continues to remain higher than the proportion of youth population in Singapore at 16%.
Similar to past trends, the three most common offences for which youths were arrested remained shop theft (1,294 persons), other theft (520 persons) and rioting (461 persons).
Despite the drop in youth arrests, the Police noted a rise in incendiary and explosion cases involving the use of sparklers committed by youths for the second year running. There were 43 such cases reported in 2007, compared to 32 cases in 20066. 57 offenders were arrested for such cases and of these, more than 8 in 10 were youths.
BREAKDOWN OF OVERALL CRIME IN 2006/ 2007 PERIOD | 2006 | 2007 | +/- | % | OVERALL CRIME RATE 7 | 742 | 695 | -47 | -6.3% | OVERALL CRIME | 33,263 | 32,545 | -718 | -2.2% | Crimes against Persons | 4,103 | 4,084 | -19 | -0.5% | Violent Property Crimes | 1,004 | 1,025 | 21 | 2.1% | Housebreaking and related crimes | 1,201 | 925 | -276 | -23.0% | Theft and related crimes | 20,301 | 19,522 | -779 | -3.8% | Commercial crimes | 3,159 | 3,489 | 330 | 10.4% | Miscellaneous crimes | 3,495 | 3,500 | 5 | 0.1% |
Phone scams claim one victim a day in 2007 The perpetrators netted $4.6 million from the gullible, but overall crime rates fell to third lowest in a decade. By Khushwant Singh A WOMAN remitting money abroad at the Maybank branch in Jurong East, was so anxious, staff became concerned. Upon gentle probing, she revealed that she had received a call that her loved one had been kidnapped. The story was all too familiar to the alert staff, who figured the woman was a victim of a phone scam.
As it turned out, her family member was alive and well. While she was saved, 378 others were not so lucky.
The kidnap scam snared four victims while the rest mostly fell prey to conmen promising lottery or lucky draw prizes.
With an average of more than one person cheated every day, such commercial crimes has become an area of concern for the police.
These were among the few blips in the improved crime situation which registered 718 less cases. Reports of crime fell from 33,263 in 2006 to 32,545 cases last year, with most categories of crime showing a decrease.
VIDEO
S'pore's crime rate 3rd-lowest in a decade
(3:51)
Based on 100,000 of the population, it was the third-lowest in a decade. Housebreaking and crimes against persons, such as causing hurt, murder, rioting, rape and outrage of modesty dipped to 4,084 cases.
There were 18 murders last year, one up from the previous year, and all, but one, were solved.
Releasing the annual crime figures on Monday, Senior Assistant Commissioner Soh Wai Wah also identified snatch theft and robbery involving elderly victims - number of cases rose from 170 to 241 - and theft of metal items as other areas of concern.
There were 1,291 reports of metal theft, up 204 cases from the 1,087 in 2006.
The total value of metal items stolen was more than $6 million, against $4 million in 2006.
Commercial crime was up by 10 per cent and SAC Soh attributed the increase to phone scams. He said: 'Such phone scams, practically unheard of in 2006, claimed 378 victims who lost $4.6 million last year.'
Several variations have emerged. In lottery and lucky draw scams, victims were told to pay an advance fee into overseas accounts before they could claim their prizes. This ruse claimed 325 victims, who lost between $200 and $350,000 each.
By August, the phone scams had evolved and mystery callers would threaten victims' family members with hurt if a ransom was not paid. In all, four victims were cheated of about $80,000.
The next month, conmen, masquerading as police or court officers, would advise victims to remit money so as to close investigations into crimes they never committed in the first place. The 49 victims conned in this way lost more than $500,000.
Police have arrested three men - two Chinese nationals and a Taiwanese - aged between 35 and 40 in connection with the kidnap hoax.
To combat phone scams and crimes against the elderly, police have involved community groups so increase public awareness.
Noting that four out of 10 crimes have been solved with public assistance, SAC Soh said: 'The reduction in crime has been due to police and community partnership that has been forged over the years. We will continue to involve the community by seeking their inputs to meet the safety and security challenges of the future and enlisting their help to reach out to those amongst us who are more vulnerable to crime.
CRIME SITUATION FOR YEAR 2006 The crime situation has improved in 2006. Overall crime reported in 2006 fell by 10% when compared to 2005, from 37,093 to 33,393.
All of the 9 index crimes registered decreases in 2006 from 2005, with the most significant decreases noted for rioting and the property offences of housebreaking, motor vehicle theft and robbery.
Index crimes
Theft and related offences accounted for more than half (61%) of overall crime reported, fell by 2,192 cases from 22,711 to 20,519 cases in 2006. The overall decrease was largely due to fewer cases of shop theft, theft from person and other theft. In addition, hand-phone crimes also dropped from 4,825 to 4,594.
The number of persons arrested decreased by 12% from 21,970 to 19,273. As in past years, foreigners made up 14% of those arrested. Youths made up 19% of total persons arrested in 2006, compared to 23% last year. About 4 in 10 arrests involving selected major offences were made with the assistance of the public.
Cheating and related offences decreased from 3,052 to 2,917 cases in 2006. There were decreases across cheating and related offences, with a significant drop noted for hand-phone-related criminal breach of trust cases from 303 to 231 cases. Most of these cases involved culprits who pretended to borrow hand-phones from victims then failed to return them. Cases targeting elderly victims also fell from 134 to 94 cases.
Outraging of Modesty (OM) dropped by 28 cases, from 1,308 to 1,280 cases. About one out of four outraging of modesty cases took place at common areas of HDB blocks, such as lift/lift landing, void deck, staircase/staircase landing. Cases involving contacts via Internet and telephone chat lines dropped from 14 to 12 cases in 2006.
Housebreaking decreased by 342 cases, from 1,465 to 1,123 cases in 2006. The large overall decrease could be attributed to fewer break-ins at HDB residences (from 401 to 253), coffee-shops (from 111 to 47), private residential premises (from 198 to 171 cases) as well as childcare/education centers (from 73 to 62).
Robbery fell by 146 cases from 1,092 to 946 cases. The number of hand-phone robberies (from 488 to 441) as well as the related concerns of robberies involving youth victims (from 252 to 211) and youth culprits (from 204 to 145) have decreased. However, the number of robberies targeting elderly victims increased from 51 to 63 cases in 2006.
Motor vehicle theft decreased by 158 cases from 1,058 to 900 cases in 2006. The decrease was attributed to a drop in the number of motorcycles stolen (from 756 to 647). Three quarters of the motor vehicle theft cases occurred overnight and were mainly committed at car-parks in public housing estates.
Snatch Theft decreased by 40 cases, from 632 to 592 cases in 2006. Similar to robbery, there was a drop in cases where hand-phones were stolen (from 283 to 264) as well as cases involving youth victims (from 136 to 89). However, there were more snatch theft cases involving youth culprits (from 77 to 87) as well as cases with elderly victims (from 102 to 106).
Rioting dropped by 128 cases, from 489 to 361 in 2006. Decreases were noted for cases that took place along the streets (from 142 to 81) and at common areas of HDB blocks (from 106 to 82). This corresponds to the drop in the number of rioting cases involving youth culprits, which fell by 68 cases, from 205 to 137. Of these, 111 cases involved youth culprits and youth victims.
Rape dropped by 6 cases from 124 to 118 in 2006. Almost all rape cases involved offenders who were known to the victims. Cases involving contacts via the Internet and telephone chat-lines also decreased from 13 to 5 case.
Murder fell by 4 cases, from 21 to 17 in 2006. All 17 murders have been solved. They were isolated and unrelated. Of these, thirteen cases were crimes of passion, committed as a result of dispute between known parties.
Other Issues
Theft and related Offences
Theft and related offences fell from 22,711 to 20,519 in 2006. Shop theft, theft from person and other theft were among the offences that witnessed the largest absolute decreases.
Other theft, which are commonly cases where victims left their belongings unattended in public places such as shops, eating places, void decks, schools etc, fell significantly from 7,206 to 6,008. Meanwhile, shop theft dropped, from 5,270 to 4,804 and theft from persons, from 1,023 to 797.
Concern arises, however, over the rise in theft and related offences where metal items were stolen in 2006. A total of 1,092 of theft of metals were reported in 2006, which was an increase of 566 cases from 2005. Such cases occurred at both public and private premises and common metal items stolen include cables, lightning conductors, raw materials, prayer burns, dry-riser lugs, drain covers and doors of cable television over-ground boxes.
Hand-phone Crime
Crimes where hand-phones were taken fell from 4,825 to 4,594 in 2006. Hand-phone crimes dropped most notably for cheating and related offences (from 343 to 253), robbery (from 488 to 441) and housebreaking (from 183 to 142). The drop in hand-phone crimes, may be due, in part, to the enhanced public education on such crimes as well as the implementation of new police initiatives such as the online database of the IMEI numbers of stolen hand-phones for easy screening. However, hand-phone crimes remain an area of concern because of the continued high mobile phone penetration rate in Singapore
Youths Arrested For Crime
A total of 3,645 youths were arrested for crime in 2006, as compared to 5,050 in 2005. They accounted for 19% of the total persons arrested. While this is a decrease from the 23% in 2005, it is still higher than the proportion of youths in Singapore.
Foreigners Arrested For Crime
The number of foreigners arrested for crime decreased by 278 persons from 3,036 to 2,758 persons in 2006. They accounted for about 14% of the total persons arrested, same as in 2005. More than half (1,632 persons or 59%) of the foreigners were arrested for theft and related offences, with shop theft accounting for 31% of the offences
Arrests Made By Police
The number of persons arrested for overall crime decreased by 12%, from 21,970 to 19,273 persons in 2006.
Public-Assisted Arrests For Selected Major Offences
Similar to past years, members of public contributed to 4 in 10 of total arrests (700 criminals) for murder, rape, outraging of modesty, robbery, housebreaking, motor vehicle theft and snatch theft.
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Warren's Singapore 2008