PM Lee opens new Police Operations Command Centre

SINGAPORE - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong launched the new Police Operations Command Centre (POCC) on Monday.

According to the Straits Times, the media was not invited to the event and the location of the new command centre was not disclosed due to operational sensitivity.

PM Lee said in a Facebook post that the new centre will serve as the new nerve centre of the Singapore Police Force (SPF), and will "monitor events big and small, including taking 999 calls, and coordinates the police response to them".

"Our police officers don't carry little black notebooks around any more," he added. "They use IT and 3G comms, and are linked to the Police Operations Command Centre."

SPF said in a statement on Monday that the Police Operations Command Centre also contains the Police HQ Incident Command Post, which is set up for the running of major operations such as the ones held during the week of national mourning for the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

The SPF spokesperson added that the migration of the Combined Operations Room to the POCC building "marks a major enhancement to the operational capabilities of SPF in real-time incident management and sense-making, integrating people, technology and processes to prevent, deter and detect crime".

In March, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said during the Committee of Supply debate for the Ministry of Home Affairs that the centre began operating in November 2014. He also said that there would be more improvements to help integrate police command and control systems so that frontline responders can be deployed "more quickly, precisely and effectively".

ljessica@sph.com.sg

ljessica@sph.com.sg