SINGAPORE: The Singapore Police Force (SPF) on Monday (Oct 30) put out a tender to double the number of police cameras installed across the country, partly to better cover new housing estates and infrastructure that have been built since such cameras were introduced in 2012.
Under the tender, more than 90,000 existing police cameras at public housing blocks, multi-storey car parks and other public areas in neighbourhood and town centres will also be progressively replaced by new ones.
By the mid-2030s, more than 200,000 police cameras in total will be installed islandwide in public areas “to enhance public safety and security, and aid in police investigations”, said SPF in a press release.
Plans to increase the number of police cameras were first announced in 2021.
On Monday, SPF said that the cameras will be installed at more locations such as commercial, entertainment and recreational areas with high footfall and where crowds gather.
They will also be installed at more bus stops, the immediate vicinity of MRT stations and bus interchanges, as well as other common areas in residential estates like ground-floor lift landings.
Currently, not all bus stops are equipped with police cameras – only those linked to Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks are. Under the tender, all bus stops in Singapore will have such cameras.
In response to CNA’s queries on privacy concerns, an SPF spokesperson said that police cameras are only deployed at locations where the cameras’ field of view covers public spaces.
The police have also implemented “strict data protection safeguards and controls on the storage, access and use of police camera footage”, the spokesperson added.
Such footage is securely stored and will be deleted after 31 days from when it is recorded unless it is required for investigations. Only authorised people are allowed to access the footage for official purposes.
“There are also regular audits conducted to prevent and detect any unauthorised access. Any person found accessing the footage for unauthorised purposes will be severely dealt with,” the spokesperson said.