Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on the Recruitment Efforts of the Singapore Police Force by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Question:

Mr Ang Hin Kee : To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what are the plans to attract more Singaporeans to join the Singapore Police Force (SPF); (b) what is the status of the Home Team's re-employment efforts; and (c) whether the SPF plans to assign more non-policing activities to civilian officers and allow uniformed officers to take on more operational roles.

Answer:

1. Over the last 10 years, the number of Police Officers has increased by about 18%, from 8,000 to 9,400. While it is more challenging to recruit officers with fewer Singaporean new entrants joining the workforce each year, SPF has kept the Police career attractive by offering meaningful and exciting jobs, competitive terms and conditions, as well as good career development and advancement prospects.

2.  SPF is currently working on providing more seamless advancement opportunities for its officers by placing degree and non-degree holders on a single scheme of service.  It is also introducing specialist career tracks to develop officers with deep expertise in specialist domains.  Police jobs especially at the frontline will be redesigned to make greater use of data, technology and automation, with streamlined work processes.

3. In October 2013, the retirement age of Police Officers was extended from age 50 to 55. This enables our older Police Officers to continue their contributions to the Home Team.

4. After age 55, Police Officers may be offered re-employment depending on organisational needs.  This is subject to performance, conduct and fitness criteria. About 60% of retired Police Officers were re-employed by SPF in the past five years, to both Police and civilian jobs.

5. To allow our Police Officers to perform their core policing functions, more civilian officers have been recruited to take on civilian specialist roles.  The Home Team Specialist Scheme was introduced in 2010 for civilian officers to take on specialized roles in areas such as engineering, technology, crime scene investigations and forensics. There are currently 290 civilian specialist officers in the Police Force.  They play an important role in complementing Police Officers to maintain law and order and to fight crime.