Launch Of The Logistical Transport Industry Safety And Security Watch Group

The Logistical Transport Industry Safety and Security Watch Group (iSSWG) was launched on Thursday, 24 February 2022 by Mr Desmond Tan, Minister of State (MOS), Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment.

Formed as a partnership between the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Singapore Transport Association (STA), the Logistical Transport iSSWG aims to:

1. Promote active stakeholder dialogue between the private and public sector;
   
   
2. Strengthen the engagement between the private and public sector with capacity building measures by leveraging its members’ expertise, promoting the sharing of best practices and supporting the development of guidelines, frameworks or standards to create a safe logistical transport community;
   
   
3. Put in place measures to enhance the security and safety of drivers and commuters by establishing an upstream reporting process when a suspicious article and/or person is detected; and
   
   
4. Actively disseminate safety and security messages through the STA’s platforms or for the STA to provide the Police with a space on their platforms to embed such content.

Industry Safety and Security Watch Group (iSSWG)

The iSSWG framework was formed in 2008 and currently consists of members from the Chemical, Manufacturing, Hotel, Retail, Financial, Public Entertainment and Online industries. The iSSWG provides an important platform for the Home Team and our industry stakeholders to work closely together to address industry-specific safety and security concerns, and to co-create effective measures to counter the threats posed by crime and terrorism.

Since the formation of iSSWG, various collaborations on seminars and workshops were conducted to brief and engage the industry on topics such as cybercrimes, scams, terrorism and licensing regulatory framework, both pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19, where the format of engagements pivoted from the physical world to the virtual realm. In addition, through the partnership with one of SPF’s iSSWG partners, a set of guidelines was developed to establish standards and encourage industry best practices. One such example, led by the Singapore Hotel Association (SHA), the SPF’s industry partner for Hotel iSSWG, in partnership with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and SPF was the SS545:2009 Singapore Standard for Hotel Security – this standard provides a framework for hotels to assist them in setting up a security management system to ensure a safe and secure environment for their staff and guests. Furthermore, the SPF has established regular platforms with the Hotel iSSWG, such as the Annual Hotel Security Awards and Security Conference to recognise safety and security efforts by the hoteliers. SPF also works with the Chemical iSSWG through the industry sector Singapore Chemical Industry Council (SCIC) to conduct training programmes, for instance webinars to share crime and security related issues and/or industry related licensing regulatory frameworks with the industry players.

Formation of Logistical Transport iSSWG

A key driver for the formation of the Logistical Transport iSSWG is the growing concern over the use of vehicles in terrorism-related attacks. Since 2016, there have been several overseas incidents reported on the use of vehicles to conduct terror attacks, such as the following:

1. The attack in Nice, France in July 2016 where a man drove a cargo truck into a large crowd celebrating Bastille Day, killing 86 persons and injuring 458 others.
   
   
2. The London Bridge attack on 3 June 2017, where three men used a rented van to ram into pedestrians and subsequently attacked others with knives, killing eight persons and injuring 48 others.[1]
   
   
3. The attack on 19 June 2017 in Finsbury Park, Britain. The attack happened during the holy month of Ramadan, where a group of Muslim worshippers was hit by a van. The attack resulted in one casualty and nine injuries.
   
   
4. The attack on 1 January 2019 in Tokyo, Japan. The attacker intentionally rammed into pedestrians in Harajuku district in retaliation for the execution of Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult members. The attack resulted in nine injuries.
   
   
5. The attack on 6 June 2021 in London, Ontario, Canada where a man rammed a pick-up truck into Muslim Pakistani Canadian pedestrians at an intersection resulting in four casualties and injuring one other.
   
   
6. The attack on 21 November 2021 in the small town of Waukesha, Wisconsin where a sport utility vehicle sped through a Christmas parade resulting in five casualties and injuring more than 40 others.

The use of vehicles in terror attacks can be traced back to as early as the 1990s, where a lorry carrying 1,500kg of explosives blew up in Manchester city centre. In the aftermath of the explosion, although no one was killed, 212 people were injured, and the shopping centre at the incident location was severely damaged[2]. In Singapore, the local Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network had planned to use truck bombs to mount simultaneous suicide attacks on targets in Singapore, and had planned to attack the US embassy and other Western interests. The attack plans were foiled with the arrest of the JI members in 2001.

[1] Terror attacks referenced and quoted from BBC News, 2017: 3 June and 2017: 19 June <https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40013040>
[2] Terror attacks referenced and quoted from BBC News, 1996: 15 June <https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40013040>

The terrorism threat remains high in Singapore. Self-radicalised individuals pose a serious threat, through their ability to carry out lone-actor attacks using any means they have at their disposal, such as vehicles and knives.

Hence, the implementation of the Logistical Transport iSSWG provides new opportunities for the Police and other Home Team Departments (HTDs) to collaborate with members of the logistics sector to fight crime and counter terrorism through the establishment of a sharing platform and co-creation of a set of guidelines relevant to the industry. This allows the logistical transport industry players to be extra vigilant and to intervene on a timely manner when any abnormalities have been detected.

The launch of the Logistical Transport iSSWG formalises the partnership between the SPF and STA, which aims to create a safer and more secure logistical transport community for all users. Director of the Community Partnership Department, Assistant Commissioner of Police (AC) Shng Yunn Chinn said, “The modus operandi for terrorist attacks continues to evolve over the years, and the use of vehicle as a weapon in a terrorist attack is not new. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that the Singapore Police Force (SPF) formalises our partnership with the logistical transport industry, which allows us to share latest crime and security advisories and threats with the industry members quickly to prevent potential misuse of their logistical transport vehicles for conduct of illegal or terrorist related activities. The SPF is glad to have the Singapore Transport Association (STA) on board. This partnership with STA will complement our SGSecure community outreach and engagement efforts so as to achieve a more effective and coordinated response to these threats.”

STA spokesperson said, “Currently, STA strongly encourages its members to be equipped with the Vehicle Safety Management System (VSMS) technology, which leverages on advance telematics to provide real-time GPS vehicle tracking. STA will continue to strengthen our partnership with the SPF to further educate our members on safety and public security.”

The SPF looks forward to collaborating with the STA and its members to create a safer and more secure logistical transport community for all.

Annex A

Launch of the Logistical Transport iSSWG (L to R): AC Shng Yunn Chinn, Director CPD, DC(Ops) Tan Hung Hooi, MOS Desmond Tan and Ms Cherie Goh, Chairman STA