Crime In Singapore: A Statistical Comparison With Major Cities

by Ms Chang Hwee Yin
Department of Statistics

With the high standard of living, continued prosperity and increased civic consciousness, Singapore has been a relatively crime-free society by international standards. The crime rate, which is already low, has declined further in recent years. This paper presents an overview of the crime situation in Singapore during the last decade and gives a quantitative comparison of Singapore vis-a-vis selected major cities in the Asia-Pacific region (including North America). Qualitative data on the perceptions of Singaporeans on law and order and their general sense of security are also examined.

Singapore's crime statistics are compiled from reports to the police. For the other major cities under comparison, the overall crime rates are estimated from information published by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. More detailed breakdown of major types of criminal offences for selected cities are obtained from statistical reports of the respective countries.

In comparing various cities, it is important to note that not all crimes, especially minor offences, are reported. Therefore, there could be significant differences in the overall crime rate based on administrative records. In order to present a meaningful comparison of the crime situation, comparable data on specific major criminal offences have been compiled for this paper. Offences like robbery, murder and housebreaking, are likely to be reported and the serious nature of these crimes reflect more accurately the underlying public safety of various cities.

As many petty crimes and offences such as theft may not be reported, the crime rate for major offences provides a more meaningful picture of the underlying crime situation. A comparison is therefore made between Singapore and selected cities for which breakdown of crimes reported by type is available.

During 1988-1991, Singapore registered declines in violent crime rates for murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault (Table 2). The rate declined most significantly for rape by 46 per cent from 1.3 to 0.7 per 100,000. The crime rates for murder, robbery and aggravated assault decreased by 14-20 per cent over the same period. In contrast, Detroit, Washington, Houston, Philadelphia and Hong Kong showed increases for all violent offences under comparison.

In 1991, Singapore's rate of violent crime (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) is the lowest amongst the cities excluding Tokyo. Singapore's crime rate for murder and robbery is higher than Tokyo. It is significant that the robbery rate in Hong Kong was triple that in Singapore and its incidence of aggravated assault was almost 7 times higher.

Singapore, New York and Detroit experienced a decrease in property crime rate during 1988 - 1991 (Table 3). On the other hand, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Atlanta showed increases of more than 5 per cent in the property crime rate.

Hong Kong had a relatively low property crime rate of 790 per 100,000 in 1991 largely because of the low rate of reported theft. However, its burglary rate was almost double that in Singapore - 241 against 127 per 100,000. In the US cities, the burglary rate ranged from 927 per 100,000 in San Jose to 3,439 in Atlanta.

The 1991 survey also showed that three quarters of the Singaporeans felt that general security had improved over the last 5 years (Table 5). Only 2 per cent felt more insecure over the same period. The findings of the 1991 survey were consistent with those of an earlier survey conducted in 1988.

Source : Statistics Singapore Newsletter, Vol 17 No.2 October 1994