Community Policing to Fight the Rise in Crime

Wednesday, 6 August 2008

Community Policing to Fight the Rise in Crime

ENSURING the safety of 3,000 residents for every policeman on duty is becoming a major challenge for the men in blue based in USJ, Subang Jaya.

For Chief Inspector Foo Teik Fong, who is the officer in charge of the USJ8 police station, the way forward is getting the cooperation of residents to help in fighting crime, not in the physical sense, but more towards being the ears and eyes of the police.

“The international ratio for every policeman to the number of residents is 1:200. Here, each of our officers has to care for 3,000 residents.”

“The area under USJ is like the size of Malacca and the only way we can do better is through the cooperation of the residents themselves,” he said during a briefing with community leaders on the setting up of a Joint Community Policing Implementation Committee recently.

Foo said community leaders and residents would be identified and invited to join the committee, which will meet monthly.

“They can assist us by keeping us informed of what's happening around them, suspicious characters lurking in their neighbourhood and more.”

“Nowadays, house break-ins are being committed by people from all races. Some of those we have caught were found to have RM12,000 and foreign currencies worth RM5,000 in their pockets,” he said, adding that many of these burglars targeted houses which were badly lit or had locks which were flimsy.

He said it was time for residents to become busy bodies, to assist the police in crime prevention, adding that the station has now turned their facsimile line to a hotline.

Residents can call 03-5638 2631 for assistance, he said.

“We will respond immediately. If you don't get a response on that hotline, you can call me on my mobile 019-205 9222.”

“If you see, for example, a scrap collector going around your neighbourhood before 7am and after 7pm, call us. We will pick him up,” he added.

Foo said all policemen on duty had also been instructed to apprehend any tow truck drivers removing a luxury car after 7pm.

SS17 Subang Jaya police station officer in charge, Chief Inspector Sulaiman Baputty, who carried out a similar briefing with residents, said the cooperation and active participation of residents were crucial to fight crime.

Subang Jaya Municipal Council member Chia Kwai Loy, who is also a resident in USJ16, said that signage bearing the contact numbers of the police station and officers should be erected in the municipality to ensure that the public could contact the police anywhere.

“Make the signage multi-lingual. For residential areas, house owners should light up their premises as this will deter break-ins,” he added.

Patrick Tan, a resident in USJ, said it was crucial for the police to allow the reinstatement of SJ Alert, a community SMS system which has more than 3,000 members, to resume sending out information of crimes committed in the area.

He said “crucial information from the police can be sent out via SMS to alert residents of suspicious vehicles or suspects the police are looking for.”