Singapore continued to be a safe and secure place to live in, going by the considerable decline in crime rate in 2017, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
In a statement on Thursday, Feb 1, citing the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2017 Safe Cities Index, the ministry reiterated that Singapore was ranked the world's second-safest city after Tokyo in terms of personal security and safety. Singapore scored 89.54 compared to Tokyo's 89.80 in the index and its rank has remained unchanged since 2015.
Giving the crime figures in Singapore, it said the city-state witnessed a sharp decline in the overall crime rate, especially in thefts and violent or serious property crimes. The number of immigration-related arrests has also come down, it noted. In terms of personal security, Singapore topped the list with 94.94 score compared to fourth-ranked Tokyo's 91.57.
Overall fire incidents confined to a 40-year low, the number of fatal accidents and deaths also reflect the increased road safety in 2017. Fewer crashes from drink driving, speeding or red light jumping indicate the improved situation on the roads, it said.
However, the ministry expressed concern on the increasing number of attacks on women, outrage of modesty cases and Internet love scams. In terms of eCommerce too, the nation remains to be cautious despite a visible decline in these cases last year, the report said.
In view of external factors, the ministry said the SGSecure movement has made good progress in training and sensitizing the community about the looming threat of terrorism. Currently, 300,000 households have at least one "prepared citizen" to deal with any such threat, noted the report.
Safety drills conducted in 2017 were 55 and more than 170 secondary schools have been reached with exhibitions and school level lectures. Contingency planning was launched to protect business districts and help companies review their security plans and busy spots like Clarke Quay, Sentosa and the new Ng Teng Fong General Hospital in Jurong haave been covered so far, said the report. In terms of infrastructure security, Singapore topped the list with 97.05 while Tokyo was ranked 13th in the list.
The ministry said its new SGSecure app has been installed in 1.3 million mobile devices, with the residents and the children alwass connected and receive alerts instantly in case of any incident.
