New joint facility for Home Team operations
Located at Kallang Fire Station, it can act as a command and staging area for the police, SCDF and other agencies
The police, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and other agencies now have access to a joint facility to coordinate operations during major events.
The first of its kind to be built in Singapore, the Home Team Joint Facility (HTJF) at the Kallang Fire Station operates as a command and staging area during such operations.
The fire station's location next to the Singapore Sports Hub and the city makes it an ideal site to house the facility, said Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam during the official opening of the fire station yesterday.
"It is a good platform for even greater collaborations within the home team agencies," said Mr Shanmugam.
The HTJF is on an upper level of the fire station and includes a main command room where personnel from the police, SCDF and other agencies will work together.
SCDF director of operations, Assistant Commissioner Daniel Seet, said the purpose-built facility would allow the agencies to quickly set up command capabilities - unlike in the past where agencies had to first find a suitable site for their operations.
The HTJF would be available to the police and SCDF during major events like the Formula 1 races and National Day, as well as during security incidents, said AC Seet.
"This allows us to come together and think more about how we can do joint operations better, how to synergise our work better," he said.
To accommodate such joint operations, the Kallang Fire Station has a total floor area of 14,000 sq m for housing a large number of emergency vehicles that can be deployed quickly.
The fire station also houses vehicles such as the Pumper Firefighting Machine, an unmanned firefighting device, and will house the SCDF's first High Level Articulated Appliance, which can be extended to reach the top of a 30-storey building.
Yesterday, Mr Shanmugam also announced a new career track for uniformed officers known as the ops-tech track.
These officers will receive specialist training and will be based in the SCDF and the police force, where they will integrate technology into the agencies' everyday operations.
SCDF's Deputy Commissioner (Future Technology and Public Safety) Teong How Hwa said the officers will serve as a bridge between agencies like the SCDF and the upcoming Home Team Science and Technology Agency.
"The future looks very exciting for them, because ops-tech officers can translate frontier technology into front-line operations."
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