DEPUTY Superintendent of Police (DSP) Chin Yong Feng, 29, has always wanted a job that would allow him to serve and help others in impactful ways.

SPF, with its mission of preventing, deterring and detecting crime to keep Singapore safe and secure, offers just that.

He applied for a scholarship through the Public Service Commission (PSC) Scholarship Centre and underwent several rounds of panel interviews with PSC and the Ministry of Home Affairs Scholarship Boards.

The interview sessions gave him a deeper understanding of SPF’s mission and its core values, and reaffirmed his decision to join the organisation. He was eventually awarded the Singapore Government Scholarship with the SPF.

On the scholarship, he pursued a Master of Engineering (MEng) Electrical and Electronic Engineering with Management at the Imperial College London in the United Kingdom. His studies for a bachelor’s degree with honours was combined with that of a master’s degree in this integrated four-year programme.

The scholarship covered his tuition fees, monthly overseas maintenance allowance, pre-studies allowance, return economy class airfare and sponsorship for exchange programmes.

Scholarship holders are bonded for six years and five years for students from English-speaking countries and non-English speaking countries respectively.

DSP Chin has fond memories of his learning journey in London. One of them is having a Nasa researcher who supplemented his lessons with his experience from the Mars Land Rover project. As a fan of space exploration, it was an exciting highlight of his studies.

In addition, having an interesting mix of overseas classmates, coupled with lively class discussions, gave him new perspectives and insights from people of different cultures.

Studying overseas also made him more independent, self-sufficient and resourceful.

Putting his skills to the test

Upon his graduation in 2014, DSP Chin joined Tanglin Division as an investigation officer and led an island-wide investigation and crackdown on contractors passing off as HDB officers to cheat elderly victims.

Last year, he served as a deputy team leader at Toa Payoh Neighbourhood Police Centre where he led a team of 20 officers to fight crime in the area.

He is now attached to a new SPF unit — the Next Generation Systems Directorate (NGSD) that promotes a start-up culture, encouraging creativity and innovation to drive transformation in SPF. There, he relishes the opportunity to be involved in the smooth-running of Big Data work-stream projects with his team.

“To achieve SPF’s mission, we have to constantly tackle ambiguities and obstacles; the attitude and aptitude for problem-solving gained during my studies have translated into my job today,” he says.

What DSP Chin loves most about his job is that he gets to identify and resolve real-life problems that Singapore, and the SPF in particular, faces.

“Engineering is a subject that constantly requires and teaches you to think and devise solutions to problems, and I was glad that I was able to apply it to my current job,” he says.

“My studies have also helped me realise that the ability to work well with others is especially important.”

The methodologies and best practices in communicating ideas and gaining stakeholder buy-in have been translated into my job today,” he adds.