Police Workplan Seminar 2026 – Keynote address by Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs

Commissioner Kwang Hwee,

Distinguished guests,

SPF officers,

My colleagues,

1. Good morning to all of you. It is a real pleasure to join you at this year’s Workplan Seminar.

2. In Singapore, we often take safety and security as a given, whereas in many other parts of the world, it is really not the norm.

3. It is easy to take safety and security for granted here in Singapore, not just because the SPF carries out its mission well year after year, but also because it is always looking ahead to see what is on the horizon, and transforms and adapts accordingly to meet the evolving threat landscape.

4. The theme of today's seminar, ‘From Frontlines to Frontiers: Emerging Technologies, Enhancing Policing’, I think aptly captures this very important attitude.


Another Year of Operational Excellence

5. The SPF has continued to keep Singapore safe and secure, and our streets remain safe. We saw a reduction of about 25% in the number of scams and cybercrimes last year. The SPF successfully secured major events like the National Day Parade, Formula 1 night race and the Marina Bay New Year Countdown.

6. Public trust in the SPF remains very high. In the Home Team Public Perception Survey 2025, 93% of the respondents said that they trust the SPF.

7. I would like to take this moment here to say a very big thank you to all our SPF officers – uniformed as well as civilian staff, National Service officers, and also volunteers.

8. The work that you do keeps Singaporeans and Singapore safe and secure, and I thank you very much and I am very proud to be working alongside all of you.


Technology - the SPF’s Necessary Enabler

9. At the same time, I am glad that the SPF, however, despite what it has achieved, never rests on its laurels.

10. After all, criminals don’t stand still either. For example, while the number of scams and cybercrimes decreased in 2025, the threat is not receding. On the contrary, scammers are now exploiting AI to scale and also accelerate their operations, and make their scams even more convincing and effective.

11. And then there are manpower constraints as well, which we all face. The SPF cannot grow its force indefinitely, or as much as it wants to. Given Singapore’s demographics, it is just not possible to throw more officers at a problem.

12. These challenges make one thing clear: Technology is not just a good-to-have for the SPF. It is a necessary force enabler and multiplier.

13. Harnessing the power of technology is key to staying ahead of the threats, despite limited manpower resources.


Leveraging AI

14. I am glad therefore that the SPF has really been accelerating its efforts to harness technology. In particular, that it has been integrating AI in its operations in a purposeful manner, to enable its officers to be more effective at every stage of their work.

15. From the lodging of police reports by a member of the public, all the way to the conclusion of the investigation by the Investigation Officer (IO).

16. Let me share some examples.

17. The AI-enabled Report Lodging Co-pilot (R-COP) has been progressively deployed since October 2025. The system guides members of the public through the process of lodging reports at police kiosks, resulting not just in a smoother experience for the user – the members of the public, but also in more comprehensive and complete reports which help the IOs in their follow-up.

18. In their investigations into the reports, our IOs are also equipped with the Investigator Co-Pilot. This is a powerful in-house AI suite built to complement CRIMES3, the SPF's investigation case management system. This Investigator Co-Pilot supports the IOs across the entire case spectrum – the entire case management workflow.

19. The pilot implementation of the Case Summariser module helps the IO in the initial phase of investigations by synthesising information from multiple sources into a sharp and actionable summary to guide investigative follow-ups. This in turn enables quicker and more informed assessments of the police reports, and the IOs can follow up on the reports more swiftly. Overall, improving end-to-end service, enhancing speed, and of course, efficiency.

20. Next year, the Investigator Co-Pilot will extend further into the investigative process.

21. The Summary of Facts Generator module will parse through the evidence gathered after investigations by the IOs, to automatically generate structured summaries of the facts, aiding the IOs in their presentation, as well as in the analysis of the case, to the senior management to analyse, to review, and also to external stakeholders, who help partner with them, like AGC.

22. Also in development is the Case Recommender module which will add rigour and objectivity to decision-making. This will help in surfacing corroborations and also contradictions across investigation findings and aligning them to the relevant legislation as well as the frameworks. So, understanding the ingredients of the offence and matching it with the evidence. This will assist the IOs in determining the most appropriate course of action to take.

23. Taken together, these tools enhance the efficiency as well as the effectiveness of SPF’s investigations. Not by replacing the judgement of our officers, but by sharpening it, and freeing up the officers to focus on what only a human officer can do. Our officers have judgement, intuition and experience. They exercise wisdom and empathy, in delivering justice – that is a key part of what they do. So, the efficiencies that we harness through technology frees them up to allow them to spend more time and emphasis on this aspect of the work.

24. On the traffic front, the SPF is progressively rolling out TRACER, an AI-powered video analytics capability. TRACER can process footage submitted by the public, automatically identify traffic violations, and pinpoint their exact timestamp within the recordings.

25. This allows the officers to process the cases faster, and deal with the offending drivers faster as well.

26. In cyberspace, the new Cyber Command will be equipped with AI-enhanced capabilities.

27. A new Cyber Operations Centre will enable proactive threat hunting and swifter disruption of criminal platforms targeting Singaporeans. To do this, the Cyber Command will enhance existing AI-enabled tools, and also develop new ones, to tackle cyber threats, including scams. Already, the SPF has been using AI to identify suspected scam websites – two out of every three scam websites blocked today are flagged by our AI tools.


Leveraging Robotics

28. At the same time, SPF is also leveraging extensively, robotics, to enhance our physical security.

29. On land, indoor patrol robots extend and amplify the presence of the SPF. These patrol robots, you probably have seen at the Changi Airport Terminal Four, they move around, sometimes quite cute, get in the way, but they are all patrolling, collecting data, monitoring, and they will be progressively deployed in more public spaces.

30. At sea, our Police Coast Guard officers will be supported by unmanned patrol vessels, which will complement our manned boats to support and protect our coastlines. During my visit to the PCG in March this year, I observed an unmanned patrol vessel in operation. The officers, who were with me that day, shared that such technology will expand their operational capacity, and also help to strengthen their sensemaking of a threat situation. This in turn will enable them to respond to threats faster and more robustly.

31. In the skies, the SPF is exploring the use of jet-propelled manpacks that enable and will allow the officers to fly on board into hostile ships and also storm buildings.

32. The SPF is also developing weaponised unmanned drones that can be deployed to strengthen its capabilities in special operations, such as in high-risk maritime settings when our officers need a tactical advantage when boarding hostile vessels. These drones would provide covering fire for our officers as they approach the vessel and begin executing their boarding manoeuvres. The weaponised drones can also protect our officers by moving in first to take out booby-trapped barricades, before our officers enter the area of operations. Overall, this improves mission outcomes and importantly, keep our officers safe.

33. The SPF has another new aerial policing capability, and it is my pleasure this morning to announce the launch of the Home Team SkyGuardian.

34. The SkyGuardian is a beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone and drone box system. It provides for autonomous and remote patrolling of areas that are typically harder to surveil through the usual conventional methods.

35. The SkyGuardian is equipped with a suite of payloads, including blinkers, searchlight, speakers and cameras with visual analytics capabilities.

36. It will be deployed for routine aerial patrols, along designated pre-planned flight routes for a start.

37. This will enhance SPF’s presence in far corners of Singapore to deter criminal activities and provide an aerial perspective of the ground situation. This new concept of patrol operations will enable faster detection of safety and security incidents, and importantly also, a faster response.

38. When there is a live incident along its route, the SkyGuardian will be remotely flown to and remain at the location of the incident, to provide an aerial view of the situation to the responding ground forces.

39. At the same time, it can also execute supporting operations such as illuminating the scene with powerful searchlights, or issuing warnings through its loudspeakers to the perpetrators and members of the public.

40. The Home Team SkyGuardian represents a fundamental change in how the SPF conducts public safety and security operations.

41. This level of automation in police drone operations is also among the first of its kind in the world for a highly urbanised operating environment.

42. It is the result of the close collaboration between the SPF and HTX, and I also thank CAAS^[1] for working with the Home Team to ensure that the system meets the stringent standards required for BVLOS operations in urban airspace.

43. The SPF and HTX have deployed 8 sets of SkyGuardian across challenging terrains and areas which are not easily patrolled today nor adequately covered by fixed Police cameras. These include industrial-maritime areas, such as Tuas and Brani, and also Singapore’s southern islands.


Conclusion

44. On that note, let me conclude.

45. The theme of this year’s Workplan Seminar which I alluded to at the start, captures the SPF’s tireless commitment to staying grounded in the realities of the frontlines, whilst at the same time having a very clear eye on what is on the horizon, what is beyond the horizon, and what is in the future.

46. This is what will ensure that it continues to be able to keep Singapore safe and secure in the years to come, no matter what new threats might come our way.

47. I thank all of you once again, our officers and your families, for working so hard to secure Singapore and keep Singaporeans safe. I wish all of you a very fruitful seminar.

48. Thank you very much.

[1] Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore