Commissioner of Police (Singapore)

Commissioner of the Singapore Police Force
Incumbent Hoong Wee Teck since 6 January 2015
Singapore Police Force
Type	Commissioner of Police
Abbreviation	CP
Reports to	Minister for Home Affairs
Appointer	President of Singapore
Term length	No term limit
Constituting instrument	Cap. 235, 2006 Rev. Ed.
Formation	1857; 167 years ago (1857)
First holder	Thomas Dunman
Deputy	Deputy Commissioner of Police

The Commissioner of Police is the head of the Singapore Police Force (SPF). The Commissioner is assisted by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, and reports to the Minister for Home Affairs. The current Commissioner of Police is Hoong Wee Teck.

The position was created with the Police Act of 1856 (and passed in 1857), in response to calls for a full-time dedicated police officer to helm the police force in response to escalating cases of violent crime in Singapore during that period. Thomas Dunman was appointed as a Deputy Magistrate and Superintendent of Police in 1843, before he assumed responsibilities as the first full-time Commissioner of Police in June 1857.

When Singapore, Malacca and Penang became Crown colonies of the British Empire in 1867, the role of the police commissioner was expanded to include that of the entire Straits Settlements, with the title changed to Inspector-General of Police. This lasted until the Japanese occupation of Singapore in 1942, before the position was restored as the Commissioner of Police in 1946 with the return of the British and the gradual instatement of self-governance.

The President of Singapore has the power to appoint the Commissioner of Police on the advice of the Cabinet.^[1]

List of commissioners of police

Commissioner of the Singapore Police Force

#	Portrait	Commissioner of Police	Took office	Left office
1		R E Foulger	1946	1951
2		J P Pennefather-Evans	1951	1952
3		Nigel G Morris	1952	1957
4		E Alan G Blades	1957	1963
5		John Le Cain	1963	1967
6		Cheam Kim Seang	1967	1971
7		Tan Teck Khim	1971	1979
8		Goh Yong Hong	1979	1992
9		Tee Tua Ba	1992	1997
10		Khoo Boon Hui	1997	2010
11		Ng Joo Hee	2010	2015
12		Hoong Wee Teck	2015	Incumbent

List of inspectors-general of police

Commissioner of the Straits Settlements Police

#	Portrait	Commissioner of Police	Took office	Left office
1		Thomas Dunman	1857	1871

Inspector-General of the Straits Settlements Police

#	Portrait	Inspector-General of Police	Took office	Left office
1		C B Plunket	1871	1875
2		Samuel Dunlop	1875	1891
3		R W Maxwell	1891	1895
4		E G Pennefather	1895	1906
5		William Andrew Cuscaden	1906	1914
6		A R Chancellor	1914	1923
7		G C Denham	1923	1925
8		Harold Fairburn	1925	1935
9		René H de S Onraet	1935	1939
10		Arthur Harold Dickinson	1939	1942

References

• "Policing Singapore in the 19th & 20th centuries", Peer M. Akbur, Singapore Police Force, 2002 ISBN 981-04-7024-X

This page was last edited on 18 May 2024, at 14:23