SINGAPORE - The new Police Operations Command Centre, which will be the new nerve centre of the Singapore Police Force (SPF), was launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday.

The SPF will use the centre to monitor incidents and coordinate its responses daily, Mr Lee said on Facebook.

"Our police officers don't carry little black notebooks around any more," he said in a Facebook post on Monday evening that drew more than 1,600 likes within 10 minutes. "They use IT and 3G comms, and are linked to the Police Operations Command Centre."

The centre, PM Lee said, "monitors events big and small, including taking 999 calls, and coordinates the police response to them".

Its launch was not open to the media over concerns of operational sensitivity.

Operations at the centre started in November last year, with the adoption of a new police command and control system, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean during the Committee of Supply debate for the Ministry of Home Affairs last month.

He did not go into much detail at the time, but DPM Teo, who is also Home Affairs Minister, pledged: "We will continue to improve and integrate our command and control systems so that we can build a consolidated situation picture and help our ground commanders deploy frontline responders more quickly, precisely and effectively."

Mr Lee added that he spoke to some police officers after opening the centre, including two who had " worked so hard to manage the huge crowds during the recent state funeral" of former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

He concluded: "Deeply appreciate their efforts to keep Singapore safe."