Patrolling 40,000 members of the police force, Civil Defence Department (JPAM) and Rela

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 -- Some 40,000 members of the police force, Civil Defence Department (JPAM) and Rela will be deployed throughout the country for patrol duty beginning Jan 1, 2012 to reduce crime rates.

Home Ministry's secretary-general Tan Sri Mahmood Adam they had been given training to carry out their task to protect public safety.

"Today is the first day for some of them to be patrolling in Brickfields and Damansara.

"More than 5,000 of them will conduct joint patrols in areas throughout the Klang Valley as frequently as possible from next year," he told a news conference at the launching of the joint patrolling programme called Rondaan Bersama PDRM, JPAM dan Rela, here, today.

Mahmood said the use of electronic devices was also one of the ways to facilitate crime prevention in the country.

"Through the (2012) budget tabled by the prime minister, closed-circuit television cameras will be installed in stages in every state and the existing ones reactivated in areas according to urgency, particularly the crime hot spots," he said.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar who was also present, said public perception of the crime situation in the country until October had improved.

"Two years ago, there was fear over the crime rates among 58 per cent of the people but this has dropped to 48 per cent, based on a survey by TNS Research International (hired by PDRM to conduct a study on the NKRA for crime)," he said.

He also said that the JPAM and Rela members involved had been given the power of the police volunteer reserve (PVR) to take action in certain situations, as under the Police Act, the IGP could give them the PVR power.

He added that the JPAM and Rela members were assets to PDRM in joint coooperation efforts as they were trained to control traffic and to assist in crime prevention.

Meanwhile, on a case where a robber was fatally shot by a security guard in a bank robbery in Pandan Indah, Ampang yesterday, federal CID chief Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin said police were still investigating to find out whether the suspect was a soldier as he had used a Steyr gun (the same type used by the Malaysian Armed Forces) in the robbery.

"We are investigating the suspect's background before finding out where the weapon had come from," he said. -- BERNAMA