Police launch crime prevention programme for primary schools

Since the beginning of the year, some pupils at Gan Eng Seng Primary School have been eagerly taking part in Police Pal, a programme that educates them on crime prevention and police work through engaging activities.

The pilot run, from January to September, was such a hit that even pupils from classes that were not involved in the programme were asking about it, said Mr K. Kannathasan, 61, an English and mathematics teacher at the school.

"As we had only some classes involved, other pupils were envious and were asking why they were not selected. Those who were involved loved it and were showing off their badges," he said.

The programme was launched by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) yesterday at the Singapore Sports Hub.

Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim was guest of honour. He was accompanied by Assistant Commissioner of Police Shng Yunn Chinn, who is director of the SPF's Community Partnership Department, and Ms Loh Wee Cheng, director of the Ministry of Education's Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) Branch.

Schools can join the programme by contacting the community policing officers at the nearest neighbourhood police centre. The programme is free for all to join.

The Police Pal programme involves the use of three booklets with different themes, at different levels. Pupils have to complete various crime-prevention and police-related activities before they advance to the next level. Each booklet contains 10 activities and features Ray, SPF's mascot for children.

SPF will distribute the materials to participating primary schools. These materials can be completed with the help of teachers and parents, and are meant to be completed outside of school curriculum time.

Pupils can receive a mystery prize when they attempt at least one activity. They will also receive a level badge when they complete all activities.

Teachers will collect the completed booklets so that they can be checked by the community policing officers. The booklets will then be returned to the schools, together with the prizes.

Police Pal was developed from the previous Young Police Buddy initiative by Bedok Police Division that was launched in 2019. It will involve 116 primary schools and more than 112,000 pupils.

Mr Daniel Ng Jun Wei, 33, an English and mathematics teacher at Greenwood Primary School, said: "Our students enjoy this programme. This has been a good introduction to what the SPF is doing, and we have been weaving it into our CCE curriculum as well."