Singapore's crime rate drops 7% to lowest in 20 years

Singapore's crime rate plunged by 7 per cent in 2011 to the lowest it has been for twenty years. -- ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Singapore's crime rate plunged by 7 per cent in 2011 to the lowest it has been for twenty years.

'Confrontational crimes' such as murder, robbery, violent property crimes and housebreaking crimes in particular fell to 20-year lows.

Other main classes of crime, such as rioting and snatch theft, also fell to the lowest number of arrests in a decade.

Commercial crimes, however, saw an overall increase of 2 per cent that stemmed mainly from cheating cases as well as Internet scams.