Meet the officers who led life-saving rescues and excelled in groundbreaking anti-scam initiatives.
By: K Shreeyaa
The 2024 Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Minister's Awards Presentation Ceremony honoured outstanding Home Team officers who have demonstrated exceptional operational efficiency and innovation in their line of duty. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Abdul Rahman Bin Mohamad Karim, ASP Irina Ng and Senior Staff Sergeant (SSSgt) Woon Guo Jin were recognised for their significant contributions. They share their stories with us!
Swift Rescue at Sea
On the night of 21 January 2024, a fire broke out at an offshore fish farm off Pulau Tekong. Upon notification, ASP Rahman, the on-duty Ground Commander of the Police Coast Guard (PCG) resources, and SSSgt Woon, Assistant Crew Commander of a PCG patrol craft, swiftly responded to the incident while coordinating an action plan with the Singapore Civil Defence Force and Maritime Port Authority.
“When we arrived, the fire was raging and was rapidly spreading, putting the workers at the fish farm in danger as they attempted to combat the fire,” ASP Rahman recounted.
ASP Rahman, SSSgt Woon and their team of PCG officers immediately assisted to contain the fire using portable extinguishers from their patrol vessel, preventing the flames from spreading to other parts of the farm and causing further structural damage that would pose a danger to the rescue and fire-fighting operation. They also quickly accounted for all 13 workers and evacuated them to safety.
ASP Rahman and SSSgt Woon’s leadership and actions not only averted further damage to the fish farm but also ensured that no lives were lost in the operation. The mission’s success displayed the exceptional response and teamwork by the PCG officers.
Reflecting on the operation, ASP Rahman credited his team’s experience and regular training for the calm and focused response. “Time was critical,” he said. “Every minute counted, and our top priority was ensuring the safety of the workers onboard and our officers.”
SSSgt Woon added, “Seeing the fire grow made it clear that we needed to act fast and evacuating everyone was the safest option. I’m proud of how we managed the operation smoothly and no one was injured.”
Despite the challenges, ASP Rahman and SSSgt Woon stuck to the constant reminder among all PCG patrol officers – “Go out safe, come back safe.”
For their extraordinary bravery and quick thinking, ASP Rahman and SSSgt Woon were awarded the MHA Operational Excellence Award at this year’s MHA Minister’s Awards Presentation Ceremony.
Innovative Scam-Fighting Operations
ASP Irina Ng, a Senior Investigation Officer with the Anti-Scam Command (ASCom), received the Home Team Innovation Award for her leadership in Project ASTRO (Automation of Scam-fighting Tactics & Reaching Out).
This groundbreaking initiative was launched in collaboration with bank partners and leverages Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to send SMS alerts to scam victims, notifying them of suspicious transfers and advising them to cease further transactions.
"Many victims of scams don’t know they’ve been scammed until we alert them. By harnessing RPA, the process of detecting and alerting scam victims is automated, saving countless manhours while achieving our objective of alerting the victims at the earliest instance,” explained ASP Irina.
The results of Project ASTRO have been nothing short of impressive. Since its inception in April 2023, over 118,000 SMS alerts have been sent, safeguarding more than 68,000 potential scam victims and averting more than $442 million in losses.
Given the ever-changing scam landscape, ASP Irina shared that it’s important for the Police to remain agile and adopt technology to stay ahead: “I hope that this award will inspire other officers to think out of the box, consider how technology can be integrated into our work and take action to create sustainable technological solutions or processes!”
MHA Minister’s Awards Presentation Ceremony 2024
A total of 135 awards were presented at the MHA Minister’s Awards Presentation Ceremony held at the Home Team Academy on 22 October 2024. The awards recognise outstanding officers, teams and agencies that demonstrated efficiency and competency in major operations, cases and projects, or displayed high standards of innovation and service excellence in the course of their work. Congratulations to this year’s award recipients!
Explore Our Content
Editor's Pick
