Technology to help CNB in fight against drugs

Technology will aid Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers in enforcing a drug-free Singapore, with a new integrated system that streamlines their operations.

The powerful system can help to process planning and deployment of operations, and equip officers in the field with mobile applications that expedite procedures like statement-taking and exhibit-tagging.

The Integrated Drug Enforcement Administrative System II (Ideas II) can also be used to analyse data to establish larger behavioural patterns and crime hot spots in Singapore.

Technology was one of the three cornerstones of plans to transform the CNB, outlined by Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Home Affairs Amrin Amin at the CNB Workplan Seminar yesterday.

Speaking at the Home Team Academy, Mr Amrin said the second cornerstone is the CNB staff, who will get to upgrade their skills through professional courses and refresh their knowledge on the go with mobile learning modules.

Finally, forging strong partnerships with the public and private sectors as well as the community was imperative in winning the fight against drugs, Mr Amrin said.

"We need a strong network of partners to leverage their presence and reach, to push out our messages more effectively and to counter falsehoods that undermine our anti-drug efforts," he said, pointing to a CNB collaboration with Shalom Movers, which saw 100 of its vehicles mobilised to spread the anti-drug message.

He noted that South-east Asia was the world's largest market for methamphetamine and the second-largest for opium and heroin, adding that new psychoactive substances also remain a threat and there has been a softening towards drugs in some places.

Amid these worsening global and regional trends, the CNB and its partners must remain focused and committed, he said.

Lee Wen-Yi

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 23, 2018, with the headline Technology to help CNB in fight against drugs. Subscribe