Sensing in the Singapore Police Force
FIGURE 4. EARLY WARNING SYSTEM
TRIPWIRES
The information technology revolution
means that management is inundated
with information and news. To ensure
proper management of the vast amount
of information, prior hypotheses must
be made, which will also specify triggers
to alert management to major systemic
issues ahead of time.
BOTTOM-UP SENSORS
In the Singapore Police Force (SPF),
a Learning Organisation culture
facilitates the exchange of ideas and
surfacing of ground issues. Internally,
the Leadership Group (which includes
ground commanders) gathers regularly
to exchange ideas, insights and new
risks in a collegial atmosphere. A
"near miss" mechanism allows ground
officers to surface incidents that could have occurred, but were narrowly
avoided. Adequate channels to reflect
ground realities to senior management
ensure that policies made are fully
cognisant of the ground situation. For
example, during the recently concluded
APEC operations, SPF deployed morale
sensing teams to obtain important
ground realities, resulting in important
adjustments to deployment plans.
ELIMINATE FILTERS
To facilitate a healthy culture of
empowerment, a "Management of
Mistakes" framework was introduced
to promote an environment in which it
is "safe to talk" and "safe to take risk".
The framework provides a safety net for
officers who have committed honest,
non-malicious mistakes.
MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES
Externally, stakeholders play an ever
larger role in the decision-making
process of any organisation. In SPF’s
context, interaction with the community
over a variety of platforms gives rise to
new risks to be placed on the radar. For
example, the National Crime Prevention
Council has traditionally been a valuable
sensing source. Next year, a Citizen’s
Academy will be established to further
engage influential thought-leaders in the
community. With the gradual erosion of
transnational borders, events happening
in another part of the world may have
a huge impact on local outcomes. It
is hence vital for any organisation to
gain multiple perspectives by plugging
itself into an international network.
The Risk Assessment Horizon Scanning
framework, for instance, can be used to
this end.
~ Ang Hak Seng |
