New counter-terror police teams to be on the ground from June

SINGAPORE — To be operational in June, a new crack squad of police officers specially trained in counter-assault and armed with submachine guns will operate out of all six land division headquarters, in groups of four to five. 

The officers of the Emergency Response Team (ERT), which Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam announced last month as part of a hardening of counter-terrorism measures amid heightened risks, will conduct patrols at places such as shopping malls as a form of deterrence.

They will wield more powerful firearms — the Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun — than regular cops and be suited up in ballistic helmets and vests in full battle order.

Sharing details of the ERT during the Police Workplan Seminar on Friday (April 29), Mr Shanmugam said that “top of the list” of the new challenges the force will face is terrorism, which has become “a clear and present danger”.

The Police noted that, going by the Paris attacks last November and Jakarta attacks in January, the modus operandi of terrorists have shifted to trying to inflict maximum casualties as quickly as possible without any intent to capture hostages or negotiate for their release.

Mr Shanmugam added: “ERTs ... will have to respond faster, more effectively and decisively to attacks. They will have more firepower and be given training to achieve this. They will get to the scene as quickly as possible to contain the situation and minimise casualties as far as possible.”

By going on patrols, the officers will also be able to familiarise themselves with the local terrain and stakeholders so that they can respond swiftly during an armed attack.

Apart from donning different uniforms to regular police officers, ERT officers will move around in more powerful sport utility vehicles than the fast response saloon cars driven by Neighbourhood Police Centre officers.

ERTs will be followed by a second wave of forces — specialist teams from the Special Operations Command (SOC) called Rapid Deployment Troops (RDT), which will be fully manned by July next year. Mr Shanmugam said another 300 officers will be added to SOC’s ranks by then, with most of these to be deployed to the RDT although some will supplement the Police Tactical Troops.

The RDT will move around in convoys of armoured Tactical Strike Vehicles — still being developed — and the familiar blood-red Tactical Vehicles. When they are needed on a scene urgently, they will use Tactical Response Motorcycles so that they can weave through traffic, for instance.

Mr Shanmugam said that, depending on the nature and scale of an attack, other agencies such as the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) could be called upon to back these two counter-terror units in the Home Team. He added that the SAF could also support the Home Team in deterrence patrols and other security operations in specific areas, including critical installations like the checkpoints and public transport nodes, commercial areas, and residential heartlands where there is high human traffic.

To prepare the public for a terrorist attack, a new advisory will educate individuals on what to do if they are caught in an attack. A new 71999 SMS service will also be launched for the public to report an incident, especially when it is not safe to make calls. 

Details of the more extensive closed-circuit surveillance coverage announced recently — to cover places with high human traffic such as town centres, hawker centres and walkways to major transportation nodes — were also unveiled on Friday.
Jurong Gateway, Bedok Town Centre and Ang Mo Kio Town Centre will be the first three areas to be installed with these cameras from the second half of this year, said Mr Shanmugam. The expansion of the police surveillance camera network, termed PolCam 2.0, will be completed over the next four years.

In addition, the police also launched a new “i-Witness” function in the Police@SG app where members of the public can send tip-offs in the form of text, photos or videos.

Mr Shanmugam noted that this potentially provides the Police with “millions of sensors, millions of pairs of eyes, which will help us protect our people better, in our communities”.