KUCHING: Bukit Aman has been told to provide for more police manpower in Sarawak.
The call comes from Sarawak Patriot Association (SPA) chairman Datuk Dr Lau Pang Heng who said it has always been their wish to ensure a better police to citizen ratio in the state.
“The police to citizen ratio in Malaysia is estimated to be 1 police to 233 persons but the ratio in Sarawak is 1:323, meaning Sarawak needs more police to be at least at par with the national ratio,” he said.
Lau who is also the founding chairman of the Sarawak Community Policing Association (SCPA) in the meantime hailed the new blueprint by the Kuching district police headquarters to improve policing services in the community.
He pointed out that the police in Kuching have enjoyed a public acceptance rating of 80.9 per cent based on a study by a Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) postgraduate student in 2019.
This is due to police working with the community on crime prevention at that time, he said.
He told New Sarawak Tribune today that SPA is now proposing the police enhance this working relationship with crime prevention NGOs and neighbourhood crime watch groups to create more crime awareness prevention activities.
During these interactions with the public, police can exchange information and data with each other as well as with trusted partner organisations, he explained.
On another level Lau said modern policing is based on enhancement of technology.
“Fraud, cyberbullying, sexual exploitation and terrorism are prevalent online as they are in the real world.
“We welcome more police trained to respond to the dramatic rise in criminals taking advantage of the internet,” he added.
Towards this end Lau called on the public to support the Kuching IPD Blueprint 2022 which was introduced on Feb 28, urging them to give their full support to the police in their efforts to bring about better community safety, security and peace in the community.
