Only slightly more than one of every 10 police officers were directly involved in handling crime, said the lawmaker. — File pic
KUALA
LUMPUR, July 20 ― Eighty-six per cent of the country’s crime busters
are not fighting criminals but handling paperwork, “spying” activities
and logistics, a DAP MP alleged today, citing figures from the Home
Ministry in 2011.
Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong revealed in a statement here that as of
January last year, there were six uniformed police officers in non-crime
sectors to every one officer tasked to tackle crime.
“Barely 14 per cent of the uniformed police force is in crime-related
departments,” he said, referring to the criminal investigation,
narcotics and commercial crime investigation departments in the Royal
Malaysian Police (RMP).
“Meanwhile, a whopping 86 per cent of police personnel belong to the
non-crime related sectors (like) management, internal security and
public order, logistics, Special Branch, and special task forces,” he
added.
He noted that the criminal investigation department (CID) made up only
eight per cent or 9,346 of the total 105,929 uniformed police force.
“This means six times as many policemen are tasked with non-crime
related jobs, than those who are fighting crime. No wonder we feel
unsafe,” he said.
Liew (left) was citing parliamentary replies from the Home Ministry given during last year’s March sitting.
He also pointed out despite an increase of RM1.8 billion or 40 per cent
in allocation for the police between 2010 and 2012, the CID had received
only 8 per cent of the total budget.
The DAP lawmaker urged the government to prioritise police distribution
instead of worrying over public concern, referring to Home Minister
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s statement yesterday that the public’s
“perception” of security was more important than the actual crime rate.
“Police distribution is an important factor that has escaped public notice,” he said.
“There is no point to quarrel over statistics unless the Barisan
Nasional government is willing to move beyond its own obsession with
regime security and take measures to prioritise the safety of ordinary
Malaysians.”
Earlier this month, PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail
had alleged the federal government spent a whopping 71 per cent of funds
for its Government Transformation Programme on public relations
exercises this year instead of using it to fight crime.
The PKR president highlighted the Najib administration’s decision to
spend a large slice of its 2012 Budget to boost public perception
towards the police instead of helping Malaysians feel safer on the
streets.
She also demanded the government redirect the police special branch
towards fighting crime instead of spying on the public, citing
parliamentary papers which showed that in 2010 the unit had used its
manpower to produce reports on the activities of more than 700,000
Malaysians.
But despite the recent spate of assaults, robberies and kidnappings, the
police, government efficiency unit Pemandu and the Home Ministry have
held on to statistics showing that the country’s crime rate has dipped
considerably since initiatives under the Government Transformation
Programme (GTP) were put in place two years ago.
Pemandu’s unit in charge of the crime reduction National Key Results
Area (NKRA) recently held a briefing to allay public fears on the issue
and released fresh statistics last week showing that the rate dropped
again in the first five months of the year by 10.1 per cent.
It had previously released figures to show that index crime had dropped
by 11.1 per cent from 2010 to last year while street crime dipped 39.7
per cent in the same period.
The agency even appealed to the media for assistance to help correct the
public’s perception of crime, urging for more “balanced reporting”.
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