The total number of shop theft cases increased by about 7.6 per cent between 2023 and 2024, according to the Singapore Police Force's (SPF) annual physical crime statistics for 2024.

This is an increase of about 300 cases from the 3,939 shop theft cases reported in 2023, accounting for 21.2 per cent of total physical crime cases last year - the highest proportion among physical crimes by far, the police said in a statement on Feb 17.

The total number of physical crime cases in 2024 was 19,969, just slightly higher the 19,966 in 2023. The top crimes of concern in 2024 are shop theft, outrage of modesty and voyeurism.

In particular, the NTUC FairPrice outlet in Jurong Point was the hardest hit, the police said, followed by Watsons at Suntec City Mall and Cold Storage at Plaza Singapura.

"The increase in shop theft cases may be attributed to more widespread adoption of CCTV technology by retailers," the police explained in the brief.

"This has enhanced the retailers' ability to detect shop theft, including those that might have gone unnoticed at the time of the incident."

The SPF has also leveraged upon these improved detection capabilities - such as facial recognition technology - to bring offenders to justice.

Youth and shop theft

Shop theft is also one of the top offences for youth arrested in 2024, said the police. 

Cases involving the arrest of youth tend to occur at supermarkets, beauty shops, personal care or health and wellness shops, and items stolen include personal care products, food and beverage and cosmetics.

SPF will continue to work with MOE to actively engage youths to raise awareness of the consequences of shop theft.

To combat this, SPF is working closely with the Ministry of Education (MOE), conducting school talks at least once a year in all MOE schools.

The SPF also has the Coffee with a Cop initiative, which are monthly sessions to allow members of the public to speak with officers, house visits and other crime prevention talks organised with the National Crime Prevention Council.

Retailers are also advised to join the Shop Theft Awareness for Retailers (STAR) programme, where the SPF will identify vulnerabilities for stores to improve their crime prevention measures.

"We would require the efforts of everyone in the community to curb the increasing trend of shop theft cases," the SPF said, adding that the community needs to stay vigilant and report suspicious activities promptly to authorities.

"The prevalence of CCTV has also allowed retailers to better detect repeat offenders at their outlets and assist SPF in apprehending them... even if the offenders manage to evade immediate detection, they will still face consequences for their actions."

Outrage of modesty, voyeurism

The police also shared in the brief that voyeurism cases increased by 9 per cent from 476 cases in 2023 to 519 in 2024, mostly taking place in residential premises, shopping complexes and public transport networks.

Of these cases, 162 happened in residential premises, 80 in shopping complexes and 69 on the public transport network.

About three-quarters of the cases at residential premises were committed by perpetrators known to the victims, such as boyfriends or ex-boyfriends, household members or fellow tenants.

The number of cases of outrage of modesty, on the other hand, have decreased by 6.6 per cent from 1,528 in 2023 to 1,427 in 2024.

More than half of the cases involved culprits known to victims, and the number of cases in public entertainment outlets and public transport networks also decreased.

Other physical crimes

There was a short spike in housebreaking and theft cases in 2024 due to a series of cases related to private residential estates.

However, there was a decrease of 17 cases to 118 cases in the last year compared to 135 in 2023.

The police also said that there were 10 murder cases in 2024, up from the four registered in 2023.

The police has stated that all suspects in the 10 murder cases have been identified and majority of the cases involved known culprits to victims.

"We have seen encouraging decreases in offences... while we celebrate these successes, we must remain vigilant," Tan said.

"We are confident that with the community's and stakeholders' strong support for a safe and secure Singapore, physical crime will continue to remain low and together we can reinforce Singapore's standing as one of the world's safest nations."

khooyihang@asiaone.com

For more original AsiaOne articles, visit here.