Alert, Polite and Courteous

Wednesday, 6 August 2008

Alert, Polite and Courteous

SS17 Subang Jaya police chief sets an example at ‘snack’ road blocks

THE very rare “Thank You” from a motorist passing Chief Inspector Sulaiman Baputty during road blocks makes up for the blaring of horns from the majority of motorists.

For the officer in charge of the SS17 police station, it's all in a day’s work when he and his men carry out ‘snack’ road blocks as part of efforts to curb crime in the area.

Being alert and vigilant, as well as being polite, basically sums up what they have to be when manning road blocks around town.

How often do you carry out road blocks in Subang Jaya?

We normally carry out ‘snack’ road blocks once a week. We call these ‘snack’ as we do brief road blocks at various strategic areas.

What kind of challenges do you face when manning a road block?

Mostly, we see angry faces passing us by. We try and tell them that putting up a road block is not to cause them any form of inconvenience but more for crime prevention and to reassure them that we are here to ensure their safety.

We have noticed that every time we do a road block in an area, the crime in the vicinity drops to zero for that night.

Are you prepared for any situation?

The risk is always there for us. We have encountered motorists ignoring us and running through the road block. We may unknowingly come across criminals armed with weapons in their vehicle.

Do motorists wind down their window to scold you or your men?

Most of the time motorists horn at us especially when they are stuck in a long crawl because of our road block. They rev their engine but they won't shout at us.

We understand that they react this way because they could be tired, stressed or having problems at work or at home.

Have you ever received a Thank You from motorists?

Once in a while I get a Thank You. One out of 20 will thank us when passing our road blocks.