Turning a dream into reality

Saving lives has always been a calling for Priscilla. When she was a child, she would appoint herself as designated lifeguard who ensured that none of her friends got into trouble while they were swimming. In secondary school, this calling of looking out for others drove her to join the National Police Cadet Corps, and this experience exposed her to the meaningful work of the various Home Team agencies.

“I knew after this experience that I wanted to a be part of the Home Team family when I grew up,” she said. “Fortunately, it all came true!”

After joining the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in 2016, Priscilla was tasked with overseeing aspects of hostile vehicular mitigation deployment and public order equipping, both of which helped enhance public safety and security. During the course of her work, she began to question if there was any way that she could use technology to enhance existing efforts.

The desire to explore this eventually led to her joining HTX’s Sensemaking & Surveillance Centre of Expertise (S&S CoE), where she has been exploring unchartered areas of AI with Proof of Concepts (POCs), and finding ways to make Home Team operations more effective.

“AI is playing an increasingly important role in homeland security by enhancing threat detection and optimising existing operations and resource management,” she said.

Koh shared that she is proud of how the work she does has helped augment Singapore’s safety and security.

“We’re basically in a similar position as uniformed officers on the ground, albeit we serve the nation in different ways,” she said. “The work we do has a real impact on Home Team operations.”

One project she has worked on that exemplifies this involved using AI to help marine rescue operators identify people at sea. She explained that AI has been a boon for this purpose because images taken at sea are usually of poor quality due to varying lighting conditions and the constant movement of vessels. During a marine rescue mission, she added, officers typically have to use their eyes to spot a person, which can be an extremely challenging task considering the long search hours and conditions at sea.

“What this POC project does is suggest if an object out at sea might be a human body, which helps the rescue team identify victims faster and reduces rescue operators’ fatigue in such operations,” she said.

Priscilla shared that the project team has also adopted several image enhancement techniques to improve image and video quality. These enhancements, she pointed out, emphasise colours which stand out from the typical blue and green hues of the sea, thus making it easier for the system to detect anomalies.

“If a person stranded at sea is wearing a red T-shirt, the AI will intensify the red to make it more noticeable. This would allow officers to swiftly identify the humans in the water,” she explained.

A love for learning

Another reason Priscilla is enjoying her time at HTX has to do with learning and professional development opportunities. For example, in November 2023, she was part of a HTX delegation that attended Milipol Paris, an international event dedicated to homeland safety and security. There, she had the chance to showcase the AI in Marine Rescue project to other country attendees, many of whom expressed a strong interest in the technology.

“The project really blew their minds,” she quipped. “I had people from Slovenia ask if this tech had the potential to detect land mines. In many ways, the privilege wasn’t just about bringing the project overseas to share with the world, but more about how these interactions help you realise there’s really so much more technology can do.”

Priscilla also noted that she is grateful for the opportunities provided by HTX to further develop her skills in technology and AI through the series of courses and conferences she indicated interest to attend.

Three and a half years into her current role, she relishes the fact that she is still learning new things all the time.

“In my role, I’m expected to communicate with many people, from colleagues at various departments, to external vendors and HTX’s engineers, and every day I find myself walking out of the office learning something new. Whether it’s Googling up something the engineers were talking about during our day-to-day discussions, or running a workstream, it’s something different every day,” she said.

When asked if she would recommend such a career to her peers, her answer was a resounding yes - though it came with a caveat.

“If what you’re after is a purpose-driven career, this is definitely the place for you,” she opined.

“The work we do is solely aimed at enhancing the nation’s safety and security. The kind of satisfaction you get from seeing what you build make Home Team operations better – that’s just priceless.”