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100,000 crime fighters

Wednesday, 25 July 2012 09:06am

©The Star (Used by permission)
by LOH FOON FONG and ISABELLE LAI

KUALA LUMPUR: As many as 100,000 law enforcers will be available to combat crime under the second phase of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP), with the prevention of house break-ins and vehicle thefts as two of the key focus points.

Under the GTP Roadmap 2.0, the Reducing Crime National Key Result Area laboratory has targeted 47,000 police personnel and the rest from other enforcement agencies such as Rela and the Malaysian Civil Defence Department to be deployed whenever needed.

The number of crime hotspots will be increased from four to six, with Kedah and Perak joining Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Penang, assistant lab leader Asst Supt Fatimah Abdul Hamid said at the GTP Roadmap 2.0 open day yesterday.

On preventing burglaries, she said police presence would be increased in residential areas since some 150 housing estates around the country have experienced a high rate of break-ins, including in Johor Baru, Petaling Jaya, Alor Setar and Butterworth.

According to the lab, house break-ins made up 18% of the crime index last year, and vehicle thefts over 40%.

ASP Fatimah said the people wanted the Government to focus on house break-ins because they could lead to kidnapping and rape.

“There will be specially dedicated investigation teams at the police district level to address house break-ins,” she said.

“This will increase efficiency and speed in solving the cases. Intelligence technology and networks will also be enhanced.”

According to the lab analysis, as many as 80% of break-ins were found to occur from 10pm to 3am while the rest took place between 11am and 2pm.

ASP Fatimah said the crime rate continued to decrease but public perception was still negative.

According to the lab information, the crime index was reduced by 11.1% from 177,520 cases in 2010 to 157,891 last year while street crime dropped from 38,030 to 22,929.

Although crime was on the decline, an average of 419 cases were reported each day as of May.

To prevent vehicle thefts, the Pemandu NKRA lab team proposed initiatives such as lighting up car parks, incorporating security features in vehicles and forming dedicated investigation teams.

According to Pemandu, most cars were stolen on the streets, at home and from public parking places at night, with Proton and Toyota models topping the list.

The cars were usually sent to workshops and cannibalised for spare parts while others were smuggled overseas, including neighbouring countries.

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