Singapore legislation
Section 23A
Section 23A
Screening, etc., train passengers or entrants to railway premises
(1)
It is a condition of entry to any train or railway premises that a train passenger of the train or an entrant to those premises must, if asked by a police officer or an approved person anywhere in or in the immediate vicinity of the train or railway premises, do one or more of the following for the purpose of ensuring the security or safety of persons who are or may be on board the train or on the railway premises:
undergo any form of security screening mentioned in subsection (2);
undergo a frisk search;
permit an inspection to be made of the personal property of the train passenger or entrant;
permit a search through any bag, container or other receptacle or any garments removed in accordance with subsection (2).
(2)
To ensure the security or safety of persons who are or may be on board a train or on any railway premises, a police officer or an approved person may ask a train passenger of the train or an entrant to the railway premises to do one or more of the following:
walk through a screening detector;
pass the personal property of the train passenger or entrant through an X‑ray machine;
allow the police officer or approved person to pass a hand‑held scanner in close proximity to the personal property of the train passenger or entrant;
allow the police officer or approved person to inspect the personal property of the train passenger or entrant;
produce or empty the contents of any bag, container or other receptacle in the possession or apparently in the immediate control of the train passenger or entrant;
turn out the train passenger’s or entrant’s pockets or remove all articles from the train passenger’s or entrant’s clothing, and allow the police officer or approved person to inspect them;
remove any coat, jacket, gloves, shoes or hat or any other thing worn or carried by the train passenger or entrant, which may be conveniently removed if worn and that is specified by the police officer or approved person, and allow the police officer or approved person to inspect the coat, jacket, gloves, shoes or hat or other thing;
open an article for inspection and allow the police officer or approved person to inspect it.
(3)
To ensure the security or safety of persons who are or may be on board a train or on any railway premises, a police officer or a senior approved person may also ask a train passenger of the train or an entrant to the railway premises to do one or more of the following:
undergo a frisk search;
allow the police officer or senior approved person to pass a hand‑held scanner in close proximity to the train passenger or entrant.
(4)
To avoid doubt, a police officer or an approved person may make a request to a train passenger of a train or an entrant to a railway premises to do anything under subsection (2)(d), (e), (f), (g) or (h) if the police officer or approved person (as the case may be) reasonably considers it necessary to make such a request under that provision, whether or not the train passenger or entrant or the personal property of the train passenger or entrant has been subjected to screening or a frisk search under subsection (2)(a), (b) or (c) or (3).
(5)
Without limiting subsection (6), where any train passenger of a train or entrant to any railway premises refuses —
to permit to be screened or inspected under subsection (2) or (3) by a police officer or an approved person —
the personal property of the train passenger or entrant; or
any bag, container or other receptacle in the possession or apparently in the immediate control of the train passenger or entrant;
to allow a police officer or an approved person under subsection (2) or (3) to pass a hand‑held scanner in close proximity to the train passenger or entrant or personal property of the train passenger or entrant; or
to undergo a frisk search under subsection (3) by a police officer or a senior approved person,the police officer or approved person (as the case may be) may order the train passenger or entrant (as the case may be) to immediately leave the train or railway premises and with that personal property, bag, container or receptacle, as the case may be.
(6)
An individual commits an offence if the individual, without reasonable excuse, refuses or fails to comply with any request or order of a police officer or an approved person under subsection (2), (3) or (5).
(7)
An individual who is guilty of an offence under subsection (6) shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.
(8)
However, it is not an offence under subsection (6) for any individual to refuse to comply with any request or order made or given by —
a police officer who is not in uniform and who fails to declare his or her office; or
an approved person who fails to declare his or her office and, in the case of an outsourced enforcement officer, who also refuses to produce his or her identification card on demand being made by that individual.
(9)
In this section —
Definition
“approved person”, in relation to any train or railway premises, means any of the following individuals who is authorised by the Authority in writing to exercise any power under this section at or in relation to the train or those railway premises:
an officer or employee of the Authority;
a member of an auxiliary police force in uniform;
an employee of a licensee authorised to operate a rapid transit system using that train or railway premises;
a security officer (within the meaning of the Private Security Industry Act 2007) engaged by a licensee mentioned in paragraph (c);
an outsourced enforcement officer;
Definition
“entrant”, in relation to any railway premises, means an individual who is about to enter the railway premises, and includes an individual who is within the railway premises, whether or not a train passenger;
Definition
“frisk search” means a search of an individual conducted by quickly running the hands over the individual’s outer clothing;
Definition
“hand‑held scanner” means a device that may be passed over or around an individual or an individual’s personal property to detect metal, dangerous objects or explosive or other hazardous substances;
Definition
“identification card”, in relation to an outsourced enforcement officer, means an identification card issued under section 11(3) of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore Act 1995 to the officer;
Definition
“inspecting an article” includes handling the article, opening it and examining or moving its contents;
Definition
“personal property”, in relation to an individual, means things carried by the individual or things apparently in the immediate control of the individual, but does not include clothing being worn by the individual;
Definition
“railway premises” includes a bicycle parking facility or vehicle set down facility adjoining the railway premises;
Definition
“senior approved person”, in relation to any train or railway premises, means an approved person who is authorised by the Authority in writing to exercise any power under this section at or in relation to the train or railway premises concerned, as follows:
a member of an auxiliary police force in uniform;
a security officer (within the meaning of the Private Security Industry Act 2007) engaged by a licensee authorised to operate a rapid transit system using that train or railway premises;
an outsourced enforcement officer;
Definition
“train passenger”, in relation to any train, means an individual carried on board the train, and includes —
an individual boarding or intending to board the train for the purpose of travelling on board the train as a passenger; and
a driver, fare collector or an inspector while carrying out work or on duty on board the train in that capacity, or intending to board the train for the purpose of carrying out that work or duty.