Female trailblazers in the Singapore Police Force

SINGAPORE - The number of women in the Singapore Police Force has risen slightly over the past years.

Currently, 18 per cent of the more than 9,000 officers in the force are women. This is a slight increase from 2014 when women made up 17 per cent of 8,000 police officers.

In June, the first woman to head the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was named. New CID director Florence Chua, 52, also became the first woman to assume the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigations and Intelligence).

Ms Chua joins the ranks of other female cops who have made their mark and thrived in a relatively male-dominated area.

Former policewoman Ng Guat Ting joined in 1984 and was among the first female graduates to enter the force. She rose through the ranks and became the first female division commander when she headed Clementi Police Division from 1999 to 2001.

She also did a stint as police deputy director of operations and became the first female Traffic Police commander in 2005. She was the police's director of public affairs and retired with the rank of Assistant Commissioner in 2014 after 30 years in the force.

Another female trailblazer was former commander of Jurong Police Division Zuraidah Abdullah, who was the second woman in the force's history to head a police division.

She joined the force in 1986 and did stints in investigations, training, research, planning and operations. She headed Jurong Police Division, which covers the largest land area, from 2004 to 2006.

She became the first woman to hold the rank of Senior Assistant Commissioner in 2013, and the following year became the first woman to be appointed commander of the Airport Police Division. She is currently attached to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority as a domain commander at the Integrated Checkpoints Command (Air).