Crime
up for first time in decade
South China Morning Post March 3, 1999
BARRY PORTER in Singapore
THE city-state's crime rate has risen for the first time in a
decade as the first recession since the mid-1980s takes hold.
Police reported a 5.4 per cent rise in arrestable offences in 1998 to 48,260 cases, after nine years of consecutive declines.
Crime had fallen so much that police had begun painting slogans on buses and putting up road signs saying: Low Crime Does Not Mean No Crime, to remind citizens to stay on guard.
There was a steep rise in robbery, housebreaking, theft and deception - especially by foreign workers or visitors.
Of 1929 foreigners arrested, 63 per cent involved theft-related offences such as shoplifting. Malaysians, Indonesians, Bangladeshis and Indian nationals were the biggest foreign offenders.
The theft of phones from cars also became more prolific, rising 80 per cent to 1653 cases, and there were 100 cases a month of cash cards used in the electronic road-pricing system being stolen from vehicles.
Vehicle thefts for drug-running and joy-riding also increased.
There was a 68 per cent rise - to 868 - in deception cases, largely involving conmen collecting deposits for flats they did not own.
There was also a 203 per cent rise in counterfeiting of currency and forgery.
Rapes and drug-related offences rose modestly, while murders fell 2.5 per cent to 37 cases, with a third being committed by foreigners.
Police pledged to adopt a stiffer approach to crime to ensure a return to the downward trend.
Published in the South China Morning Post. March 3, 1999.