SINGAPORE — The first six months of 2025 saw increases in the city-state’s knife-related crimes, rape, molestation and theft compared with the same period in 2024.
In a mid-year crime brief released on Aug 26, police reported 10,341 physical crime cases from January to June 2025, a 5.4 per cent rise from 9,809 in the same period of 2024, with theft and molestation among the top concerns, The Straits Times reported.
The first half of 2025 recorded 75 knife-related incidents, up from 59 a year earlier, and there were 131 such incidents in the whole of 2024, though police noted that knife-related crimes have remained relatively stable over the past three years and most culprits were known to victims.
In March, a woman was charged after she allegedly used a chopper to attack someone on the first floor of People’s Park Complex in Chinatown, injuring three men
Two murders were reported in the first half of 2025, compared with three in the same period in 2024.
In separate cases, a man was charged in March with murdering his younger brother at a Housing Board flat in Boon Lay, and another man was charged in June with murdering a woman believed to be his mother at an HDB flat in Fernvale Road.
Rape cases rose to 233 in the first half of 2025 from 188 a year earlier, with 401 cases recorded for the whole of 2024, yet police said there was no discernible trend suggesting a degradation of the law-and-order situation.
The brief spotlighted theft and molestation as the top crimes of concern, noting that shop theft remains one of the most common youth offences with 2,097 cases — about one in every five physical crimes — up 4.2 per cent from 2,013 in the first half of 2024.
Most youth-related shop thefts occurred at supermarkets, convenience stores, minimarts, personal care shops and health and wellness stores, with commonly stolen items including food, beverages, alcohol and personal care products, and more than half of cases involving losses below S$50.
The Cold Storage outlet at Takashimaya recorded 36 shop theft cases in the first half of 2025, the highest among retail outlets, while Cold Storage and Sheng Siong reported a higher average number of shop thefts per outlet and the largest increases compared with the same period in 2024, with police attributing Sheng Siong’s rise likely to the use of facial recognition technology to better identify offenders.
There were 788 theft-in-dwelling cases in the first half of 2025, a 5.9 per cent increase from 744 in the same period of 2024, with most occurring at commercial premises and dormitories.
Strangers were the main culprits at commercial premises, and where offenders were known to victims they were typically people with a working relationship such as colleagues or service providers.
Hosebreaking fell significantly to 52 cases in the first half of 2025, a 20 per cent drop from 65 a year earlier, with almost half occurring at residential premises, the majority in HDB flats, and police urging heightened vigilance at landed estates amid recent targeting by foreign syndicates.
Molestation cases climbed to 807 in the first half of 2025, up 21.2 per cent from 666 a year earlier, with victims knowing their assailants in more than half the cases and increases noted on public transport and along footpaths.
The top molestation locations were residential premises (189 cases), public transport (90) and shopping complexes (57), cases at public entertainment outlets remained stable at 54 in the first half of 2025 versus 51 a year earlier, voyeurism reports slipped slightly to 252 from 258 with 81 at residential premises — mostly involving former or current partners, household members or friends — and 42 at shopping complexes and 27 on public transport where most offenders were strangers.
