Battling crime: From being

proactive to retroactive?
Lim Sue Goan
Published: 1 June 2013 9:38 AM
JUNE 1 The fact that some close relatives of VIPs in the country have fallen victim to
crime in recent weeks should serve as a wake-up call to those high in office that crime is
indeed on the rise, not just a matter of stereotyped perception of the public.
When the elder sister of DPM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was driving home one
night, she was shocked to find her house broken into, losing some RM300,000
worth of valuables to the intruders.
The residence of newly-appointed IGP Khalid Abu Bakar's younger sister was also
raided by five armed robbers, losing almost RM30,000 worth of belongings but
fortunately no one was hurt in the incident.
The daughter of Communication and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek fell
down and injured herself when her handbag was grabbed by snatch thieves at the
Ampang Tesco car park a couple of days ago.
The above incidents show that anyone can be a victim of crime and the state of
public safety is indeed in a bad shape nowadays.
Every serving IGP has his own ways of tackling crime. For instance, former IGP
Ismail Omar's Ops Payung in which police officers and constables went out to
patrol the streets and later heavy motorcycles were deployed to housing estates to
check crime.
Khalid, meanwhile, has proposed setting up new crime prevention departments
at the Bukit Aman police headquarters as well as state and district police
headquarters.
We have yet to hear from the IGP how to effectively prevent crime, but does the
establishment of the new department imply that the police will shift its focus
from battling crime to the prevention of the same in future? And how are the
police going to win the support and co-operation of the public given the current
political ambience in our country?
Khalid's preventive measure indicates the police force could be further expanded
to include at least a new director and more officers and men.
The police force currently boasts a massive team of 120,000 officers and men
across eight departments, i.e. Criminal Investigation Department, Narcotics
Criminal Investigation Department, Commercial Crimes Investigation
Department, Management Department, Special Operations Force, Special

Branch, Internal Security and Public Order Department as well as Logistics

Department.
Khalid may introduce some drastic measures to battle crime while continuing to
reinforce co-operation between the police and the military and civil defence
forces as well as the Rela Corps.
No one will object to the increase in police strength if such a move is effective in
curbing crime and that public money is well spent. But, have the police been
harnessing its existing strength in terms of assigning administrative staff and
concentrating on patrolling missions rather than political ones?
For the safety of their own lives and properties, it is imperative that members of
the public step up their awareness in crime prevention.
That said, crime prevention should at best be a contingency plan while the core
issue is to create a truly secure living environment for all.
The propagation of crime can be attributed to the existing social ills such as
disintegration of the family structure, truancy, misalignment and drug abuse
among teenagers. The lax legal controls, in the meantime, provide room for
criminal syndicates to further flex their muscles.
In the absence of effective curbs on the roots of this evil, things could progress to
a stage whereby it is beyond the means of many to prevent the occurrence of
crime. For example, professional burglars are now smart enough to decode
sophisticated anti-burglary alarm systems of expensive bungalows.
It is impossible for people to steer clear of public streets nor for schoolchildren to
stay away from their schools. Prowling criminals can always find the right timing
to prey on their victims. When the police stepped up patrols on crime-ridden
streets last year, robbers moved over to shopping malls for their ventures.
The police must consult the public in drafting a workable crime-busting roadmap
instead of just introducing reactive stopgap solutions to tackle specific problems.
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