Officers of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) will soon have the authority to exercise certain police powers when responding to incidents.

The proposal was included in the Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2017, and tabled by Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo in Parliament on Nov. 6 for its First Reading.

Once the bill is passed, ICA officers within and in the vicinity of checkpoints will be able to perform:

• Search and seizure.
• Security screening.
• Examination of suspects.
• Arrest of suspects.

This is meant to allow ICA officers to support the police force when responding to incidents, under the Integrated Checkpoints Command policy launched in 2015.

In cases where the police have not yet arrived, ICA officers will be able to conduct preliminary investigations and contain the scene.

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In addition, the bill also allows ICA officers to collect "personal identifiers" from passengers transiting through Changi Airport if necessary, for security reasons.

This includes photographs, passport details and fingerprints.

Top image from Hometeam.sg