Security at Places of Worship

Question:

Mr Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik: To ask the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs whether the Ministry plans to install Police Cameras to the surrounding vicinities of all places of worship to supplement the existing security measure in such places.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs:

1. The Police plan to deploy over 200,000 police cameras (PolCams) islandwide by the mid - 2030s. PolCams will be located at and focused on public areas, including at all public housing blocks and multi-storey carparks, public areas in the neighbourhood and t own centres, and selected entertainment and commercial districts. More focus will be given to areas with high footfall and crowd congregation. In these plans, the vicinity of some places of worship will be covered.

2. Efforts to improve the security of places of worship go beyond the deployment of PolCams. The Government has put in place various measures and programmes to ensure that places of worship are safe and secure. The Police and the Singapore Civil Defence Forc e work with building owners and managers across Singapore via the Safety and Security Watch Group, which includes religious organisations, to conduct security audits, share best practices and deliver training on building safety and security awareness. Exer cises are regularly conducted to test contingency response plans and ground readiness in the event of emergencies. As part of the SGSecure movement, religious organisations are provided additional support, such as assistance with security self-assessments and to develop contingency plans, access to counter-terrorism seminars, and training for their employees and volunteers in skills such as psychological first aid through the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth’s Crisis Preparedness for Religious Organ isations programme.

3. Beyond these efforts, building up public vigilance is key. To that end, the SGSecure movement engages members of the public on how to spot and report suspicious activity, and how to respond to a terrorist attack, at touchpoints such as roadshows and grass root events.