PSS219 Public Safety and Security in Singapore End-of-Course Assessment – July Semester 2025 | SUSS

PSS219 Instructions to Students:

This End-of-Course Assessment paper comprises 5 pages (including the cover page).
You are to include the following particulars in your submission: Course Code, Title of the ECA, SUSS PI No., Your Name and Submission Date.
Late submission will be subject to the marks deduction scheme. Please refer to the Student Handbook for details.

Important Note

ECA Submission Deadline: Monday, 03 November 2025, 12:00 pm

ECA Submission Guidelines

Please follow the submission instructions stated below:

ECA Cover Page + report in ONE MS Word File only to the submission link entitled “ECA”.

All files must be uploaded by Monday, 03 November 2025, 12:00 Noon.

Resubmission is allowed before this cut-off time.

Students are to submit their assignments in Times New Roman 12-point font, double line spacing throughout.

The word count for this assignment is between 3,000 to 5,000 words, including in-text citations, but excluding references. You are not to exceed the maximum word count.

Students are advised to scale their answers according to the weightage of the individual questions.  

Answer all questions in this section.

PSS219 Question 1

Read this fictitious scenario before answering the questions.

Atlantis is a small country located in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Situated along a busy international shipping route, it is a major port of call for ships traversing between the eastern and western hemispheres. Due to the efficiency of its workforce and its prudent investments in technology, it is increasingly becoming a favoured port of call for international shipping lines.

The economic growth of Atlantis is gradually strengthening, having invested heavily in technology and infrastructure to support its shipping, manufacturing, and digital development sectors. If investor confidence remains stable, Atlantis has the potential to become a bustling cosmopolitan city like Singapore. The Atlanteans have always been impressed with the socioeconomic progress and achievements of Singapore and are eager to learn from their Singaporean counterparts.

Atlantis is a multi-racial and multi-religious society. The country is home to three major tribes that live in different parts of the island. These tribes make up the majority of their population. The Marinars tend to settle along the coastlines of the country, working in the fishing and marine industries, whilst the Plantars have several settlements inland where they operate large factories and most of the plantations in the country. The smallest tribe are the Numeros who live and work in the digital and finance sectors in the city centre. These three tribes, along with several smaller tribes, are generally peace-loving, but they tend to stay in homogenous community groups and remain rooted in their religious and cultural practices. Although the tribes are law-abiding, they are sensitive to words or actions that they consider offensive or disrespectful to their religion and culture. As a result, there have been occasional clashes between the tribal groups in the past due to insensitive comments and misunderstandings.

Beneath the veneer of the Atlantean prosperity and stability are several public safety and security concerns, particularly in the areas of national security, substance abuse, and scams.

In the area of national security, the Atlanteans are a target of a large and aggressive country called Corona. Coronians have long been jealous of the Atlanteans and occasionally make veiled threats against the Atlanteans. Fortunately, sanctions by the international community and the occasional presence of international maritime patrols have deterred the Coronians from any overt aggressive action. Corona has been careful to avoid appearing as an aggressor, but has been known to use hybrid warfare techniques, such as fake news and misinformation, to sow discord amongst the Atlanteans. The Coronians are also notorious for disrupting maritime traffic entering and leaving Atlantean waters. On several occasions, Coronian saboteurs have also been caught attempting to infiltrate sensitive government installations, although Corona has vehemently denied all knowledge and responsibility for those activities. Lately, there has even been an increased occurrence of poorly assembled explosive devices found outside government offices. While small, those devices could cause mass casualty emergencies if activated at public gatherings.

Like many countries, crime exists in Atlantis. Although violent crime is not rampant, vape manufacturing and distribution are becoming a growing problem in the country. Vaping and possessing vaping devices are illegal in Atlantis, but that has not deterred crime syndicates from exploiting Atlantis’ position as a shipping hub to illegally import and export materials required to assemble vaping devices. While authorities are working hard to locate and dismantle the supply chain and manufacturing centres, suspected to be located in the heart of the country, they have observed an increasing trend of vaping devices being secretly sold to curious teenagers, tourists and bored retirees in the back alleys around the country. The penalties for selling and buying vaping products are small fines, and online forums have criticised the Atlantean penalties for selling and buying vaping products as being non-deterrent. As a result, the Atlantean authorities are observing an increasing number of hospital admissions for vape poisoning or vaping-related illnesses. On top of posing health problems to the Atlanteans, vaping devices have also been reported to cause several house fires while they were being charged. The small Atlantean Fire Service is gradually becoming overwhelmed by those unnecessary and avoidable incidents.

Scams are also becoming a worrying problem in Atlantis. Scammers are actively preying on the innocence and gullibility of the Atlanteans, especially the older population. Last year alone, businesses and individuals lost more than $500 million to scammers impersonating bank employees, marketing agents touting low-risk, high-yield investment schemes, and even anti-scam government officials. Buoyed by the success of their crimes, scam centres are becoming bolder and adopting more vicious and disruptive digital crimes, such as ransomware attacks and secretly using Atlantean data centres to launch attacks on servers located in other countries. These digital crimes have begun to affect the reputation of Atlantis. Analysts have warned that if this situation continues, Atlantis could suffer international sanctions and a decline in tourism and foreign investment. Scams targeting the poor and elderly have even created social problems, with many victims becoming destitute and depressed. Authorities are also worried that some of the scams and misinformation campaigns may be a hybrid warfare tactic by Corona, not only for criminal gain but also to sow discord among the Atlantean tribes.

The Atlanteans have a small but dedicated regular military force, but experts have warned that Atlantis would not be able to mount a credible defence against the Coronians, should the latter decide to take a decisive step to capture all or part of Atlantis. This has been an issue that has vexed the Atlantean leadership for many years. The Atlantean police force and fire service are made up of dedicated professionals; however, they lack the experience and capabilities to address such complex security challenges effectively.

They have approached you to assist with the situation, leveraging your knowledge, skills, and experiences in public safety and security in Singapore.

Can you help the Atlanteans?

PSS219 Question 1

The concerned Atlantean authorities would like to learn from the Singapore experience in dealing with the highlighted public safety and security issues. They have asked PSS219 students to advise them on how they can keep organised crime in check and enhance the overall security of their country.

(a) Based on the narrative above, compare the public safety and security environment between Atlantis and Singapore.

You may make relevant assumptions to support your answers. State your assumptions clearly, as well as appropriate case studies and references to support your answers. (20 marks)

(b) Illustrate at least two public safety and security issues faced by the Atlanteans.

You may make relevant assumptions to support your answers. State your assumptions clearly, as well as appropriate case studies and references to support your answers. (20 marks)

(c) Summarise how the Atlantean authorities can learn from Singapore’s experience in addressing one of the public safety and security issues you have highlighted in Question 1(b), using the 5-stage PSS cycle as a framework to guide your answers.

You may make relevant assumptions to support your answers. State your assumptions clearly, as well as appropriate case studies and references to support your answers. (60 marks)