Police to form crack teams to tackle family violence, unveil plans to improve care for vulnerable victims

SINGAPORE — The police will form new investigation teams that specialise in tackling family violence cases by next year at its divisions across the island, given that there has been a rising number of reports of sexual crime and family violence cases here.

The new family violence teams will comprise investigation officers equipped to better handle familial issues and manage victims of abuse during investigations, the police said on Tuesday (April 26). 

These officers will also undergo special training in laws related to family violence and work with social service agencies to better understand the social service interventions and community resources available to vulnerable victims.

This was one of several initiatives announced at the Singapore Police Force's annual workplan seminar on Tuesday.

Unlike previous years, this year’s seminar’s focus was not on new equipment or technology the police have acquired to fight crime.

Instead, on the police’s agenda for the year was a renewed emphasis on taking a victim-centric approach towards managing victims of sexual crime, family violence and those with suicidal tendencies.

Announcing the new initiatives in a video posted to Facebook on Tuesday, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said: “The force continues to make efforts to protect vulnerable victims. That will require a concerted effort with other partners, and the community.”

The police force will also reorganise its resources to tackle new crime trends — namely scams, sexual crimes and family violence cases.

FAMILY VIOLENCE

Beyond the family violence teams, some officers from the community policing unit will be appointed as family violence community policing officers from June this year.

Located in police divisions across the island, these officers will specialise in caring for victims of family violence.

They will be trained in escalating potential high-risk cases to social service agencies to intervene early and be the main point of contact between the agencies and the involved parties.

Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Tan Tin Wee said that family violence is a multifaceted issue that often goes unreported and one that the police cannot address alone.

“What we really want to do is address this issue holistically. If the police just address it on our own, what happens is we find that the cases keep recurring because the root causes of the family violence are not dealt with,” he said at a media briefing.

“Police resources become drawn into these long-drawn cases, and that’s why it's important that other agencies are able to help us tackle this whole issue holistically from other upstream intervention to help us address that root cause.”

SUICIDE RISK RESPONSE

When responding to reports of attempted suicides, police officers now have access to a dedicated helpline manned by counsellors from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).

The mental health professionals will be able to guide police officers on what to do or be able to talk to victims directly over the phone to assess the victims’ mental health and suicide risk.

This new approach towards handling such cases came after attempted suicide, which used to be punishable by jail or fine or both, was decriminalised here on Jan 1, 2020.

Since then, the police no longer needed to apprehend people who attempt suicide.

With the helpline, IMH counsellors will be able to conduct an immediate risk assessment and recommend the appropriate course of action, such as referring them to community resources for support or to IMH if the risk is high.

The police will also be able to activate two psychiatric nurses from IMH’s crisis response team to provide on-site assessment. 

This joint initiative by IMH, the police and the Ministry of Health has been on trial at the Bedok and Jurong divisions since March last year and was rolled out to all divisions in December last year.

SEXUAL CRIMES

The police will redesign its OneSafe Centre at the Police Cantonment Complex, which allows sexual assault victims to undergo forensic medical examinations and interviews at a single location instead of having to shuttle between the police station and the hospital.

Set to launch in the first half of next year, the revamped centre will have a dedicated area for victims, comprising interview rooms, medical examination rooms, washrooms and private rooms for them to rest there.

The police will permanently implement a model of interviewing young victims of sexual abuse within the family that cuts down on the number of times they have to repeat their traumatic experiences for investigations.

This multi-disciplinary interview model, which was piloted in 2018, involves having a combined team of police officers, medical professionals and child protection officers from the Ministry of Social and Family Development interview the victim at the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.