The number of women in the Singapore Police Force has gone up slightly in recent years.

Out of about 9,000 police officers in the force today, about 18 per cent are women. In 2014, the force had about 8,000 officers, and women made up 17 per cent.

In June, Ms Florence Chua, 52, became the first woman to head the Criminal Investigation Department, as well as the first woman to be promoted to the rank of deputy commissioner of police for investigations and intelligence.

Ms Chua joins the ranks of other women police officers who have made their mark in an arena dominated by men. Ms Ng Guat Ting joined the police force in 1984 and was among its first female graduates. She rose through the ranks and headed Clementi Police Division from 1999 to 2001 - the country's first female division commander.

After a stint as police deputy director of operations, she became the first female Traffic Police commander in 2005. She later took on the role of the police force's director of public affairs and retired with the rank of assistant commissioner in 2014, after 30 years in the force.

Another female trailblazer is former Jurong Police Division commander Zuraidah Abdullah, who was the second woman to head a police division. She joined the force in 1986 and was involved in investigations, training, research, planning and operations.

She was the head of Jurong Police Division - the largest division by land area - from 2004 to 2006.

She became the first woman to hold the rank of senior assistant commissioner in 2013. The following year, she became the first woman to be appointed commander of the Airport Police Division.

She is currently attached to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority of Singapore as a domain commander at the Integrated Checkpoints Command (Air).