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WHAT IS THAT OSTRICH DOING ON A CRIME PREVENTION POSTER? 19

The NCPC Story

The National Crime Prevention Council was created in 1981 with a mandate
to “promote public awareness of and concern about crime and to propagate
the concept of self-help in crime prevention”.
Hailing its establishment as “an extremely important event in the history
of our fi ght against crime … [ushering] in a new phase in which the public
will play an increasing role in crime prevention”, then Minister for Home
Affairs Chua Sian Chin inaugurated the Council on 4 July 1981 with this
challenge: its job was not just to teach crime prevention techniques. Crime
was on the rise because of falling moral standards, he declared. The NCPC
must therefore help the government create a “social ethos in Singapore,
wherein those who violate accepted codes of conduct are frowned upon and
wrong-doers are made to feel a deep sense of shame for their misdeeds”. The
Minister explained:

To create this social ethos, it is necessary to bring people closer
together by forging common bonds on the basis of their identity of
interests. It must be based on the principle that group interests be
placed above individual interests. Only with such a group identity
fi rmly established will the social pressure exerted by the group on
a wrong-doer to deter him from repeating his offence be effective.
Thus crime prevention measures that tend to make people go their
separate ways such as locking themselves up in their own homes
with no contact with their neighbours, however elaborate their
physical security system, are at best temporary palliatives. …

The attainment of our wider objective of the creation of this social
ethos is crucial not only to keep crime down but also to sustain the
general well-being of our nation. If we were to allow this slide in
our social and moral standards to continue and end up in a free-
for-all society where everyone is for himself, oblivious of group
interest and loyalty, then all our effort to cultivate team spirit and
team-work will come to naught. If we were to allow the ‘get rich
quick’ through whatever means syndrome that is now affl icting a
section of our population to go out of hand, then our efforts to

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