Keith Chua on Law Enforcement and Other Matters Bill

Under an amendment relating to mental health in the Law Enforcement and Other Matters Bill, police officers will be allowed to take someone into custody as long as danger to human life or personal safety is “reasonably likely to occur” but not necessarily imminent. How will officers make this judgement call and will “degrees of unusual or undesirable behaviour” be considered before apprehension is deemed necessary? NMP Keith Chua asked this in Parliament on Tuesday (Apr 2). He also questioned the need to make the change now, just as Singapore is taking steps towards enhancing mental health support and fighting associated stigmas. A “silver lining” is that law enforcement officers will be trained in basic knowledge of mental health conditions, but he suggested delaying implementation of the law - if passed - till the Home Team is ready. Mr Chua also asked about the possibility of scaling up specialised mental health response teams instead, to prevent calls to the police being the “default” for disruptive behaviour. He called for a multi-stakeholder committee to be created, to give and gather feedback on operational processes and evaluate intervention strategies - and it should include people with “lived experience”, he said.