Celebrating 200 years of the Singapore police

The first police force in Singapore was started 200 years ago with an unofficial team of just 12 men.

Untrained men joined the force as a last resort when they could not find other jobs, and did miscellaneous work such as capturing tigers, fighting fires and numbering streets.

Officers even had to pay for their own uniforms, forking out more than half a month's salary for them.

Such details about the early police force are chronicled in the SPF200 Exhibition - Frontier Town to Safest City, which was launched yesterday by Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam.

The exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore is part of a series of activities to commemorate the police's bicentennial.

It tracks the evolution of the police force in Singapore over two centuries - starting with the ill-equipped 12-men team assembled by Singapore's first Resident and Commandant William Farquhar, to the current 15,000-strong Singapore Police Force (SPF).

The early days were tough, said Mr Shanmugam, noting that the police force faced an uphill battle.

New migrants were vulnerable to vices such as gambling, opium and prostitution, and secret societies were a menace to public order.

"They often put their lives on the line, these police officers, to keep law and order," he added.

But the police's capabilities grew, starting with the establishment of patrol sector boundaries, and then the formation of specialised units like the Marine Police - the predecessor of the Police Coast Guard - and a detective branch.

As Singapore evolved, the police continued to change, expanding operations and coming up with more specialist units like the Special Operations Command, then known as the Riot Squad, which was prompted by the Maria Hertogh riots in 1950.

The police also actively engaged the community through a Volunteer Special Constabulary unit set up in 1946, and a Citizens on Patrol initiative to engage volunteers to look out for and deter crimes.

In more recent years, the police has also set up the Emergency Response Teams and an Anti-Scam Centre to combat the rising threat of armed attacks and scams, said Mr Shanmugam.

"The exhibition pays tribute to police officers, past and present, for their sacrifices. The journey is an inspiring one, it holds many lessons both for SPF and for Singapore as a whole," he added.

Artefacts such as old police uniforms, photographs and firearms detail the changes in the police force.

In 1959, for example, the police established a Phantom Squad of plain-clothes policeman who went undercover as secret society members. To identify themselves as policemen to one another, they each wore coloured cloth armbands, which are now on display at the exhibition.

Visitors can also relive some of the crimes that have gripped Singapore in modern times, including the 2006 murder of nightclub owner Lim Hock Soon by "One-Eyed Dragon" gangster Tan Chor Jin.

A replica of the murder scene at Mr Lim's house has been set up at the exhibition, for the public to test their investigative skills through an interactive game.

Retired police officers will conduct free tours of the exhibition daily at 10.15am and 1.15pm for walk-in visitors.

The exhibition will run till May 17.