PETALING JAYA, JUNE 10- Although lauding efforts done by the police in reducing crime, MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek said the police still need to increase their efforts.
“The MCA applauds the effort by the police to reduce crime and ensure better security as the country’s crime rate has been reduced from 33% to 27% in just three years.
“However, the public perception is the reverse as people still perceive that the crime rate is growing and that they do not feel secure,” said Chua in a statement today.
In view of this, he said that it is necessary for the police to do more which includes stepping up their engagement with the public so that the people can see that the police are committed in reducing crime and ensuring that peace and order are in place.
Chua also stressed that the police’s omnipresence in crime hotspots is one of the key and most effective measures in crime fighting, adding that it is necessary as it will serve as a deterrent to criminals and also an effort to regain public confidence.
He further commented that although closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance system has proven to be effective in reducing crime in many cities worldwide, the implementation of the CCTV system in the country is slow and not up to the people’s expectation.
“Therefore, if the authorities are serious about crime reduction and regaining public confidence, they must ensure that implementations of government policy are being carried out effectively,” he said.
Chua also urged the police to be professional in handling crime cases as this will affect the public perception on the police force directly, adding that the recent increase of death in custody cases has again cost the police force its reputation.
He also suggested that in an effort to promote better police-citizen relationship, the police force should recruit more multilingual police officers to serve on the front line as “we have to accept the reality that language remains a barrier in effective communication”.
“In general, the police have improved tremendously in the last three years but there are definitely a lot of spaces for improvement,” said Chua.
