Police to revamp rank structure, allowing non-degree holders to hold senior ranks

SINGAPORE – To woo more people to join the police force, the current separate rank structures for junior and senior officers will be done away with, such that recruits who are good diploma holders can rise up the ranks more quickly.

Beyond that, the force will introduce new career tracks to groom expert investigators, intelligence officers and special operations officers. 

These changes — details of which will be announced at the police workplan seminar at the end of this month — will be progressively extended to the other Home Team departments, said Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.

These moves, designed to tackle the manpower crunch the Home Team has been facing in recent years, were announced during the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Committee of Supply on Wednesday (April 6), where Mr Shanmugam highlighted the challenges expected to be wrought by a greying population.

“The macro situation is that there are smaller numbers of younger Singaporeans entering the workforce each year as a result of the (lower) birth rates,” he added. 

Singapore has about 170 police officers per 100,000 population, which the minister noted is considered low next to cities such as London, New York and Hong Kong.

Mr Shanmugam also noted that more police officers will need to be recruited to man the recently announced Emergency Response teams that will be set up and to build up the Special Operations Command to guard against the rising terror threat. 

The Home Team’s manpower needs was an issue touched upon by the Members of Parliament who spoke during the debate. Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines GRC), a former police officer, suggested raising uniformed officers’ retirement age from 55 to 62.

But Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs Amrin Amin said the ministry periodically reviews the retirement age, while it already offers retired officers positions in civilian specialist and civilian roles. 

More than 60 per cent of retired uniformed officers have been re-employed — the majority as uniformed officers — over the last five years, he said.

Mr Amrin added that the police will continue to tap officers after they retire at age 55, when needed. These officers can be called upon until they turn 60 — subject to their performance, conduct and fitness.

Mr Amrin also said police and civil defence National Servicemen will be trained to take on more challenging duties, including deploying more of them to frontline positions, leadership roles and specialist positions.

For instance, the police will set up a new Protective Security Command — made up of full-time and operationally ready servicemen — charged with protecting critical infrastructure in national emergencies, while overseeing protective security functions during peacetime.