Police unveil new measures to make reporting of sex crimes safer, give victims priority and privacy

SINGAPORE — The Singapore Police Force has introduced three new measures in an effort to make victims of sex crimes feel safer when making a report, including increasing privacy and priority for such victims.

This and other initiatives were announced by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on Friday (April 14) during a seminar on sex crime awareness.

The police said that the new initiatives are aimed at helping them improve their infrastructure and processes, and to further improve efforts to support victims of sex crimes while lowering the barriers for victims to make a report. 

The new measures are:

• Enhanced privacy and priority for victims reporting sex crimes
• Expanding the eligibility criteria for what the police call "multi-disciplinary interviews", which are essentially interviews with different parties such as doctors and police investigators in one setting 
• The redesigned and expanded One-Stop Abuse Forensic Examination Centre (OneSafe Centre), where sex crime victims can undergo forensic and medical examinations, to reduce the likelihood of a victim bumping into other people

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Sex crimes continue to be a cause for concern in Singapore. Between 2019 and 2022, there were 9,629 reports of sexual assault, including rape, sexual assault by penetration, outrage of modesty, and sex crimes involving children and vulnerable victims.

Out of these reports, 1,096 were allegedly committed by family members or relatives.

Outrage of modesty cases also increased from 1,474 cases in 2021 to 1,610 in 2022.

Last year, a review of the management of sexual crimes by the police was conducted to see how they could better improve the handling of sexual offences.

It led to them putting in place three measures focused on operational and investigative processes, training, public awareness of sexual crime investigation and court processes, and community partnerships to strengthen support for victims.

This resulted in:

• The formation of the Sexual Crime and Family Violence Command, a unit trained to deal with sexual crime and family violence cases, and also in victim management skills
• A revamp of the Singapore Police Force's webpage to provide information on sex crimes
• More than 3,500 police officers receiving "sensitivity training" on the engagement and management of family violence victims

THE NEW INITIATIVES

Currently, someone filing a report at a Neighbourhood Police Centre is required to take a queue number while indicating what type of report he or she wishes to make.

Starting from this month, the police are progressively introducing a "sexual crime report" option, whereby the person making this report will be given priority and be attended to by an officer in a private area.

The police will also look at expanding the eligibility criteria for more young victims of serious sex crimes to use the "multi-disciplinary interview" model.

Piloted in 2018, the model puts different parties such as investigation officers, child protection officers and doctors in one coordinated interview led by the police. This eliminates the need for child victims to recount their experiences multiple times, which might traumatise them further.

For now, only those below the age of 18 and are involved in cases within the family are eligible for such interviews. The police are looking to expand it to other young victims beyond such intra-familial cases.

The OneSafe Centre at the Police Cantonment Complex has been expanded and redesigned. 

Before the revamp, the centre comprised units in multiple locations, which increased the likelihood of victims bumping into other people in the building.

The new OneSafe Centre, set to open later this month, reduces the chances by housing the investigation rooms, medical examination rooms and rest suites all in one location.

WHAT EXPERTS SAY

On the improvements to the OneSafe Centre, Ms Tan Li Jen, director and senior principal clinical psychologist at the Ministry of Social and Family Development, said that it helps to have a safe, comfortable and conducive space especially when victims are already going through something traumatic and painful. 

Having worked with trauma victims for more than 20 years, Ms Tan said that the old reporting process could be stressful and daunting for victims, who are often put into an investigation room that is "cold" and "formal" to make their report.

"When you're scared, you can't really remember things very well, so it is very important that space, environment and the ambience is relaxing and comfortable for the person," she added.

Social worker Valencia Ng from Care Corner Project StART suggested raising the public's awareness on the available programmes and services by the police and community partners that help victims, so that they know where to access them.

Ms Corinna Lim, the executive director of the Association of Women for Action and Research, believes that police processes can be further improved.

For instance, at the reporting stage, victims who are assigned to a male officer may request that they be assigned to a female officer instead.

Ms Lim said: "Even though the choices exist, we know that many survivors are unaware what they can request while reporting — for example, that they can ask to be assigned a victim care officer, or ask to be interviewed by an officer of the same gender as them.

"We hope that unless these become the default setting for all persons reporting sexual crimes, the kiosk (where victims take their queue numbers) can proactively remind them of their choices when they register."