Home Team Day 2026 - Opening address by Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs

Colleagues,

Home Team officers,

Our community partners and our volunteers,

1. Thank you very much for joining us today, and I am very pleased to celebrate Home Team Day today with all of you. It was on this very day, 29 years ago, that the Home Team concept was first launched. I think you will agree with me that we have come a very long way since, in cementing our identity as the Team that keeps Singapore – our home – safe and secure.

2. When you think of everyday moments, in life, like:

(a) For example, an elderly uncle strolling across the streets in the neighbourhood after dinner;

(b) A young woman dozing off on the last train home late at night; or

(c) Children playing freely in the neighbourhood with one another – kids from different backgrounds.

3. Singaporeans do not call these ‘safe moments’. In other countries, it might be called ‘safe spaces’, but we call this daily life.

4. But to Home Team officers, I think we all know, this is the result of the work you do every day – day in, day out, keeping Singapore and Singaporeans safe and secure.

5. Every day, you work hard in your respective missions – responding to emergency calls, manning checkpoints, investigating cases, apprehending criminals, fighting scams and drugs, reviewing legislation and polices, keeping our departments and organisation running smoothly.

6. Today, on Home Team Day, we:

(a) Recognise, with deep appreciation, the hard work put in by every Home Team officer that has kept Singapore safe and secure.

(b) We also reconnect with one another and take the opportunity of this gathering to come together as one Home Team family; and

(c) We reiterate our commitment to working together as One Home Team to fulfil our mission, because indeed, it is true, we are stronger when we train together, collaborate and work together in unity.

7. The Home Team has done well and public confidence in us has remained high.

(a) In the 2024 Home Team Public Perception Survey, 93.1% of respondents said that they personally trusted the Home Team and 94.3% said they had confidence in the Home Team’s ability to keep Singapore safe and secure.

(b) Internationally, Singapore continues to rank at the top tier for safety and security. Take Gallup’s 2025 Global Safety Report, for example, it ranks Singapore the safest city in the world for the 12th time, while the World Justice Project ranks us second in their 2024 index for Order and Security.

8. But, I think you would also agree with me that these outcomes don’t happen by chance; they don’t happen because of some surveys or some soundings.

(a) They happen because of the daily hard work. They are the result of deliberate and persistent efforts by the Home Team to adapt, innovate and to stay on top of evolving risks.

9. In 2025, the Home Team made significant strides in using technology as a force multiplier. Let me give you some examples.

(a) Take the ICA’s New Clearance Concept rolled out at the checkpoints – they saw the use of facial and iris biometrics to enable swift, automated clearance of travellers.

(b) Or, to enhance frontline policing, SPF has rolled out autonomous robots like GIBSON, an autonomous patrol robot, and also R-COP, an AI-powered chatbot for members of the public to be able to lodge reports without too much toing and froing.

10. We continued to maintain a high level of operational readiness at the same time.

(a) SCDF’s inaugural Singapore-International Disaster & Emergency Management Expo brought together responders and partners from across different jurisdictions to sharpen practices and stay ahead of evolving disaster scenarios and new solutions.

(b) And when the earthquake struck in Myanmar, SCDF’s Operation Lionheart deployed very quickly, helping to save lives in very difficult conditions.

11. We also strengthened rehabilitation to build and rebuild lives.

(a) For example, SPS and partners sharpened evidence-based rehabilitation, documented in their new book titled “Group work in Correctional Rehabilitation”.


Operating Environment More Unpredictable and Challenging

12. However, we cannot, at any time, afford to maintain just the status quo. In fact, we can’t keep still; because when we keep still, people move ahead of us, and all the more so, because the world is shifting, changing, evolving rapidly, and we must be prepared to deal with the unexpected.

13. First, we are living in an increasingly polarised world. I think it doesn’t take much for us to come to that conclusion.

(a) International law and global order have come under increasing stress, and I don’t think we have seen the bottom of it.

(i) Superpower realpolitik is displacing the international norms that we have grown accustomed to since World War II.

(ii) And, as the world becomes more polarised and spheres of influence take shape, we must also, as the Home Team, be clear-eyed about the implications that it has on us back at home.

(iii) Our multi-racial, multi-religious society could similarly come under the same stress and fault lines that we see elsewhere in the world, if overtures to our communities carry racial or religious overtones. And we know, from experiences, from reports around the world that bad actors will use these fault lines to take advantage.

14. Second, terrorism continues to be a persistent threat. It doesn’t go away.

(i) This is increasingly manifesting in lone-actor attacks that are difficult to detect and disrupt early – such as what as we saw in the Bondi beach shooting.

15. Third, scams and drugs continue to be a serious law enforcement challenge.

(i) Scammers are exploiting the latest technologies like AI to scale their operations, evade detections, and refine their modus operandi.

(ii) And, drugs continue to be trafficked in our region, sometimes in very novel ways to avoid detection.

16. So, this everchanging security landscape will require the Home Team to possess the ability to respond quickly, nimbly, effectively, and I will also say – innovatively.

(a) Home Team officers must be equipped with the requisite professional and cultural skills to deal with new threats.

(b) They must also possess the reflexes to recognise and collaborate in cross-departmental joint operations that will yield optimal results for both their respective Departments, as well as, coming together for the wider Home Team, making it stronger than the sum of our parts when we come together.

(c) We also need to optimise technology and develop systems and tools to augment our existing capabilities.


Home Team Transformation 2030 — Heartware, Software &, Hardware

17. On this note, that is why Home Team Transformation (“HTT”) 2030 is so important to us.

(a) HTT 2030 provides the roadmap to get us to where we need to be in the next few years: by strengthening our Heartware, upgrading our Software, and advancing our Hardware.

Strengthening Our Heartware

18. We must continually and continuously reinforce and strengthen the Home Team identity among our officers and build a deep sense of that culture of operating as One Home Team.

(a) This is always a work in progress because there will always be new officers joining the Home Team every year.

19. But, culture-building requires both top-down, as well as, ground-up efforts.

(a) Our leaders must walk the talk and set the right direction.

(b) On the ground, there must also be organic efforts that encourage cross-Home Team collaboration in work, or in sports and social activities – such as what we are celebrating later today.

20. The results of the 2025 HT Culture Survey sent a very encouraging message: our officers want more opportunities to work, to interact and to build stronger relations across the various Home Team Departments.

(a) In response, a Home Team-wide Care and Appreciation Movement was held in August and September last year. Many officers penned their appreciation to Home Team officers coming from other departments – those that they work with, from the rest of the Home Team – thanking them for their support, for their help and, also, appreciating the collaboration that they had in operations and in projects – that was really heartwarming to learn about.

21. To strengthen the One Home Team culture, the Home Team Academy held two pilot runs of the new Frontline Supervisor’s Course for officers below the rank of Inspector in Apr and Jul 2025.

(a) The course gave participants a better understanding of how the other Home Team departments operate – what’s their workflow like – processes, what are the challenges and what are some of the constraints that they face – paving the way for smoother cooperation and collaboration as they work together as One Home Team.

(b) I was told that the course was very positively received, and so from 2026, HTA will conduct up to seven runs of this course each year.

Upgrading Our Software

22. To meet the challenges of the job, Home Team officers must possess the necessary skills and competencies.

23. So, we are investing extensively in digital training for Home Team officers, like data analytics and AI, because technology, like it or not, will become, more and more, deeply integrated in our work.

24. People skills are also just as important, because our work often involves interaction with members of the public. Training will therefore be provided to enable officers to handle cases with professionalism, empathy and also a degree of cultural sensitivity.

25. At the same time, our people remain our most valuable asset. We can have the best technology, we can have the best equipment – the latest in terms of practices, but it is the culture and a mindset of the people that makes the most difference. We are committed to maintaining the career fitness of our officers, each of you, so that they will have a long and enriching career in the Home Team. We will continue to provide a wide range of support and opportunities for the professional development of our officers.

Advancing Our Hardware

26. To stay ahead of the evolving threat landscape, we must also advance our hardware and take advantage of technology as a force multiplier.

27. Under the Home Team AI movement, we are already using AI against AI-enabled crime and deploying AI solutions to augment our work. We have to, to meet the challenge as they come.

28. Home Team departments also share technology solutions like drones, sensors, and data-driven systems.

29. The Home Team Sustainment Centre links sensors and IoT devices across vehicles, buildings, servers, and platforms within a central system that can provide a comprehensive overview of the readiness levels of Home Team assets. This has helped, overall, to improve the availability and reliability of critical assets across agencies. Today, this Sustainment Centre monitors the assets of ICA and SPF. By 2027, it will have oversight of the rest of the Home Team departments.

30. As we introduce more technology, the way we work will be transformed. And so, we must continue to be open, receptive to change and constantly review our processes so that we stay ahead of the evolving challenges that we face.


Closing

31. In closing, let me say once again that for every Home Team officer, NSman, volunteer and partner – you and your family – the sacrifices that you have put in to maintain a high level of operational readiness, to have a deep cultural mindset of keeping Singapore and Singaporeans safe – we appreciate this very much, and I thank you deeply for your hard work and for your sacrifices. Singapore has remained safe and secure under your watch.

32. On this note, I wish all of you a very, very happy Home Team Day! Thank you very much.