Launch of the Singapore Police Force’s “Smart Clubbing Campaign 2024” - Speech by Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Social and Family Development

Good afternoon,

1. The Safe Clubbing Campaign 2024 brings industry partners together to work with the Police in promoting a safe environment for patrons and staff of Public Entertainment (PE) outlets.

2. In this year’s campaign, we also want to emphasise the importance of responsible and moderate drinking, and to encourage friends to look out for one another, even as they come out and enjoy themselves.

3. As you all know, the nightlife scene in Singapore continues to remain diverse and vibrant – this is something we all want to see. At the same time, the Police are concerned with the increase in the number of outrage of modesty cases, as well as fights in, and within the vicinity of public entertainment outlets.

4. Just some statistics to remind us about realities - between January 2023 to September 2023, outrage of modesty cases increased by more than 37%. In terms of numbers, it is from 77 cases in the same period in 2022, to 106 cases in 2023. For cases of rioting, affray, disorderly behaviour, and serious hurt, the numbers increased by 25% - from 36 cases in the same period in 2022, to 45 cases in 2023.

5. We all know that people want to come out to the public entertainment outlets to have a good time, and to of course, return home safely. So these numbers are concerning, and I think we should work together – the Police, together with public entertainment outlets – to protect the safety of their staff, as well as their patrons.

6. So for this year, what used to be called the “Smart Clubbing Campaign”, has now been revamped to be the Safe Clubbing Campaign 2024, and this is the fourth  edition of the campaign with previous editions held in 2018, 2019, and 2023.

7. Besides engaging with the PE outlets directly, the Police also works together with organisations like the Singapore Nightlife Business Association (SNBA) and Singapore River One (SRO), leveraging their industry experience and networks to come up with initiatives promoting a safe and secure public entertainment landscape in Singapore and to garner the support of PE outlets to adopt them.

8. Earlier on, you would have seen two such initiatives – these were done with the support of the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), together with SNBA and SRO – we will be launching these at SCC 2024. After the launch, SNBA and SRO will also be encouraging adoption of these initiatives via their respective networks.

Staff Training Toolkit for PE Outlets

9. The first initiative – a Staff Training Toolkit for public entertainment outlets. This emphasises the importance of responsible service, such as being able to identify signs of binge drinking and intervening early, and handling situations involving intoxicated patrons effectively and safely.

10. This toolkit also shares the details to note when recording information about an incident, which can be used when subsequently reporting the matter to authorities or as learning lessons to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Safe Clubbing Challenge Mobile Game

11. The second initiative is the Safe Clubbing Challenge Mobile Game. We will be  engaging patrons of PE outlets on crime prevention advisories through gamification. As you have seen earlier, these three simple games which help to test reflexes and memory, are a fun and light-hearted way to see if alcohol-induced cognitive impairment has set in. But this is in no way a sobriety test.

12. So staff at public entertainment outlets will not specifically identifying patrons to take these tests, but instead, they will be going around, checking, and engaging with patrons; and through incentives, encouraging patrons to play these games. Crime prevention advisories are also embedded within - for example, to approach staff for help if they feel harassed or intimidated.

13. We are glad to see that public entertainment outlets like Marquee and Zouk Singapore have assisted to trial the game since the end of December 2023.
I understand that it has been trialled on six nights, and through these trials, we already have 432 unique players; the different public entertainment outlets have used different forms of incentives, such as entry fee waivers, to encourage patrons to play these games.

14. The intent of promoting responsible drinking is to avoid excessive intoxication which leads to anti-social behaviours. This is not something we wish to see because with anti-social behaviours, crimes and offences can occur; patrons and staff can get hurt. Generally, if one is intoxicated, you become more susceptible and vulnerable to crime.

15. The Singapore Alliance for Responsible Drinking (SARD), has members from several alcohol suppliers. They themselves have been promoting the responsible consumption of alcohol and advancing awareness of the ill-effects of binge drinking. The Police have invited the SARD to come on board the Safe Clubbing Campaign and to partner the Police in future collaborations and initiatives.

16. In conclusion, a safe clubbing experience is a shared responsibility between the industry, the patrons and the authorities. Public entertainment outlets and patrons must do their part to keep our public entertainment landscape vibrant but also safe, secure and orderly. I think this message is even more important as we look forward to the upcoming Lunar New Year festive season. With that, I wish that everyone will be safe, and well. Thank you very much.