KUCHING:  Malaysian feel unsafe even when some states achieved 45 per cent investigation success which exceeded the national achievement of 42 per cent, government target of 35 per cent and 26 per cent of Interpol (International Criminal Police Organisation).

“Yet the perception of ‘high crime rate’ and ‘unsafe feeling’ persist. We have studied through independent consultant Frost and Sullivan that many countries such as Australia and England also have crime reduced but the ‘unsafe feeling’ remains,” said Deputy Home Minister Dato Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar on Friday.

The Santubong MP said the government, through his ministry and the police, were going all out to reduce crime.

He also said some media were sensationalising certain issues through the social media.

“Reality becomes blurred because of perception created over exposure,” Wan Junaidi told The Borneo Post when responding to the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP) tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday.

The government aims to reduce the crime index by five per cent annually during the 11MP period of 2016 to 2020, and increase the perception of feeling safe from 39 per cent in 2014 to 60 per cent come 2020. Crime prevention will be intensified through strategies such as omnipresence, the Safe City Programme and volunteerism programmes.

Najib said police response time to distress calls will be improved from 12 minutes to eight minutes, particularly in urban and major cities, via an integrated information system known as the Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Integration (C4i) system.

The 11MP stated that capabilities of law enforcement personnel will be improved via specialised training and exchange programmes with international policing bodies. Under the plan, existing laws and regulations will be reviewed to improve Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) elements in the development of new residential and commercial areas.

Integrity of enforcement officers will be bolstered through awareness programmes conducted by the Malaysian Institute of Integrity with greater oversight by the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission and Enforcement Agencies Integrity Commission.

Wan Junaidi said it was his ministry’s initiative to create a benchmark for the country’s policing comparable with that of developed nations in aspects of crime prevention, detection and prosecution.

For this, several units in the police force have been created to include intelligence gathering and exchange, internationally and among Asean countries.

“Apart from that, we are proposing and trying to get advance technological gadgets to assist the police, Immigration, National Anti-Drugs Agency and Anti Smuggling Unit. We understand the government’s constraint but we never lost hope as the technology could assist us. The government would get them for us,” he said.

Wan Junaidi added that the establishment of taskforces and integrated databases will facilitate inter-agency collaboration.

Resource : The Borneo Post