Singapore Government Press Release

Media Division, Ministry of Information & The Arts, #36-00, PSA Building, 460 Alexandra Road, Singapore 119963, Tel: 3757794/5

SPEECH BY MR WONG KAN SENG, THE MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS, AT THE GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY FOR CANTONMENT COMPLEX ON 19 OCT 1996 AT 9.30 AM

Good Morning,

Distinguished Guests,

Home Team officers,

Ladies & Gentlemen:

This morning we break ground for our Cantonment Complex and, in the process, mark a major milestone for our Ministry. The new Complex will enable us to enhance our operational capability and deliver higher quality services to the public.

2 The Ministry of Home Affairs has adopted several key strategies to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. One of these is to construct modern, purpose-built infrastructure for our departments. A second strategy is to extract maximum synergy by having all our departments work together even more closely, as one Home Team. For example, the Police and the Central Narcotics Bureau leverage each other's strengths when they adopt co-ordinated or joint approaches in operations, training and intelligence. Be it preventing delinquency and drug addiction among youths or streamlining procedures for the public, the Home Team will be more effective when the departments operate as a single team. The Cantonment Complex is an excellent example of these strategies in practice.

3 The Complex will be purpose-built to meet the operational needs of several large and critical units, including the Central Narcotics Bureau, Criminal Investigation Department and Central Police Division. These key agencies operate today from buildings which are hardly suited to their needs. They are housed in pre-war colonial buildings or old school-buildings. The Central Narcotics Bureau, for example, operates from what was previously a primary school along Outram Road and a building which was the former Restricted Passport issuing office. These agencies face critical space shortages, lack of key facilities and poor layout which cannot be corrected, resulting in sub-optimal efficiency. In contrast the Complex will incorporate state-of-the-art intelligent building features.

4 The co-location of CNB, CID and Central Police Division will strengthen Home Team co-operation. The CNB and the Police are today already working closely, especially in drug enforcement and preventive education. For example, CNB and CID conduct joint operations. They also work together in holding anti-drug and anti-crime talks and exhibitions. Being in the same Complex will also mean savings, for example from the sharing of lock-up facilities. Planning of joint operations will also be better coordinated. A joint education and exhibition centre for preventive crime and drug education which will be set up in the Complex will make full advantage of inter-agency synergy and co-operation.

5 Infrastructure is, however, only one factor determining service quality. Ultimately it is people and operational systems which are decisive factors. The Neighbourhood Police Posts were rated highly in a recent survey commissioned by the Service Improvement Unit to evaluate public perception of 15 major government service providers. The performance of the NPPs was rated as excellent or strongly positive by a majority of respondents. Police will go even further to improve service standards. It will soon promulgate a pledge which sets minimum standards that the public can expect from the Police for its core functions. Police will publicize its standards for key activities such as response times to '999' calls and updating crime victims on the outcome of their cases. This pledge also marks a milestone in Police's efforts to deliver higher service standards.

6 Some finer considerations in the planning and design of the Complex will make it architecturally distinct. To preserve the site's heritage, the main block of the former Fairfield Methodist Girls' school will be retained and very appropriately become the anti-crime and drug education and exhibition centre. In addition, colonnaded walkways will be built around the Complex perimeter so that neighbourhood residents can move comfortably to and from the Outram MRT station.

7 I congratulate the staff from the Ministry of Finance, Public Works Department, Urban Redevelopment Authority, the Police, CNB, and MHA Headquarters who have all worked very hard together to bring us to this milestone. I look forward to the completion of Cantonment Complex, very aptly at the turn of the Century, as a symbol and demonstration of MHA's readiness to meet the challenge of the new millennium.

8 Thank you.

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